Role Reversal: The Road Not Taken
by Jackpot777
Summary: Sasuke and Naruto have always been rivals, but what happens if things didn't go the same way as it was supposed to? What if Sasuke took the path of light and Naruto the dark? No NaruSasu/SasuNaru or Yaoi. Starts at Chuunin Exams Part II. Read and Review! Discontinued. Up for adoption
1. The Mysterious Enemy!

**A/N: **So, this might be a pretty long fic. As the title says 'Role Reversal', is where the roles of Naruto and Jiraiya switch with Sasuke and Orochimaru. Personalities are unchanged; it's mainly the events and actions. Now, starting from Part Two of the Chūnin Exams! (Note: Some battle scenes have been altered of course.)

* * *

><p>"We have to sign a waiver? Why, it's not like anybody's going to die, right?" Naruto complained in the line.<p>

"You'd be surprised. Look at those guys over there." Sakura pointed to the Suna Siblings. "I heard that Gaara had killed over 20 people and the other two are supposed to be really strong. I think it's because they're the kids of the Fourth Kazekage."

Naruto took a look over to them; they did give off an intimidating feeling. "Hey, move it!" a voice yelled at him making him realize he was up next.

Sasuke and Sakura had already gone inside; they were now signing the paper, while the other shinobi pushed Naruto in front of the stand. A female worker, apparently for the exams, gave him the document, giving him the pen.

Looking at it, he blindly signed it. The worker smiled, taking the pen, saying, "Thank you, now go over there. There you will receive your scroll."

The blond sprinted to the other line, because Sakura and Sasuke have started a habit of leaving him behind. "Sakura-chan! Sasuke!"

It appeared as though they already got the scroll, making Naruto skid to not hit them. He didn't want another kiss with Sasuke, good thing he stopped in front of Sakura's face. Up close, she looked even cuter. Naruto was going to say something before Sasuke pushed him father away from her. "We got the Heaven Scroll, let's go to the gate."

Sasuke noticed Gaara yet again, he had too much of an intimidating sense around him. Smirking to himself, he had determination in his eyes; _I'm not going to lose to you, Sabaku no Gaara!_

* * *

><p>He thought about his sharingan for a while, during his walk to the starting gate. Sasuke was sure that soon, he would obtain his third tomoe. Looking around, he saw those that were not much of a challenge. Team Asuma, Team Kurenai, some foreign teams, etc. He almost forgot that he was still with Sakura and Naruto. His blond teammate snapped his fingers in front of his face. "Hey, Sasuke, wake up!"<p>

"Sasuke-kun, is something wrong?" Sakura wondered, while tilting her head.

He was about to assure her that nothing was wrong, until Mitarashi Anko started to announce the start. "Oh, shit! Run, guys!" Naruto shouted, urging them to speed up.

"Three," She started, making them run faster to their assigned gate.

They were apparently going too fast, running into the gate door before she announced the next number.

"Two!" Anko continued as they peeled themselves off of the fence.

"One!" Every started to go through, leaving Team 7 dead last. Anko came up to them, putting her arm around Naruto. "You guys want to win, right? If you do, hurry up, this seems like a special exam," she said in his ear.

"No time to lose!" Sakura raised her voice, pushing both of her male teammates into the forest. Anko was still visible on the other side, waving to them, mouthing 'Good luck, you'll need it.'

Still holding onto the scroll, Sasuke looked around, trying to sense other teams. Naruto seemed confused. "Sasuke, what's going on?"

"Clear." the Uchiha smirked, closing his eyes. "It's best not to stay here while having a harsh competition."

"Yeah!" Naruto grinned.

They all ran straight ahead, ignoring anything that wasn't moving or relevant. Then, Naruto noticed something, and told the other two," Hey, guys, I think someone is near."

The raven haired boy told him it was probably Team Asuma, nothing to worry about.

* * *

><p>"Ahhhhh!" a scream was heard in the distance. "What was that?" Sakura wondered.<p>

"A human scream. I guess that it really started," the blond chuckled. He quickly got out of that and quickly stated, "I gotta take a piss!"

When he was done, Sakura scolded him, and Naruto received a powerful kick from Sasuke, that knocked him to a nearby tree. "Sasuke-kun, I don't think he deserved that."

"Yeah, Sasuke-kun!" Naruto yelled.

"You aren't the real Naruto. The real one never adds Kun to my name, and you didn't behave like him, either," Sasuke explained.

"How'd you know, you brat!" he transformed into a different form, his true body.

The impersonator was actually a shinobi from Amegakure. He had dark hair, with something weird covering the lower part of his face and a blindfold with eyeholes.

The ninja was about to attack when Sasuke used his Great Fireball technique, creating some ashes in the air in the aftermath. The enemy completely dodged the attack. When he appeared behind the Uchiha, Sakura instinctively yelled, "Sasuke-kun!"

"Relax, will you?" he said, while turning to impale the ninja with the kunai in his hand. He only got some of the left arm. "Shit, I missed!"

* * *

><p>The enemy quickly fled, revealing where Naruto was. Even though he was saved, he yelled at Sasuke, "I could've gotten away by myself!"<p>

"How about a code word?" Sasuke suggested. "Just in case we get separated, we can ask for the code word. If they get it wrong, just assume it to be an enemy.

"The code will be the song, 'Nin Machine', okay? Then, you have to answer with, 'A large amount of loud enemies is the friend of the shinobi, hide and remain silent. A shinobi must understand the proper time, when the enemy is tired and ill prepared."

"That's impossible to remember! Can we choose an easier one, like 'Kunai' or something else?" Naruto complained.

"Hard? I've already remembered it!" Sakura said.

"I'll hold the scroll!" Naruto told them, grabbing it.

"Better not lose it," Sasuke and Sakura said in unison.

When they all stood up, they felt an attack, not enough to knock them down, though. Sasuke hid under a bush, that's when Sakura approached. Getting up, he took out his kunai, telling her to recite the password. "A large amount of loud enemies is the friend of the shinobi, hide and remain silent. A shinobi must understand the proper time, when the enemy is tired and ill prepared," she answered.

So, Sakura is accounted for, but what about Naruto? He turned his look toward him.

"Oh, I got it!" Naruto said. "A large amount of loud enemies is the friend of the shinobi, hide and remain silent. A shinobi must understand the proper time, when the enemy is tired and ill prepared."

Sasuke smirked, this wasn't Naruto. _The real Naruto would be too stupid to even remember it._

He threw several kunai knives and "Naruto" dodged all of them.

"Someone who can remember the code word and dodge my attacks is not the real Naruto." The Uchiha looked.

"Naruto" then transformed in a puff of smoke. He turned into a man, in his mid-twenties with a wide build and a wide hat. He spoke with a medium low voice, "How'd you know I was a fake?"

"I knew you were listening, that's why I made that code word. There's no way Naruto could remember something like that. So, where is he?" he responded.

* * *

><p>"What? Where am I?" Naruto groaned, and then he saw a giant shadow of a small animal. "A simple toad?"<p>

That's when the toad grew larger, about 5 times its natural size. "Oh, crap!"

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><p><strong>AN: **I hope you liked the first chapter, if you did, check out my other stories. So, review!


	2. Jiraiya

Chapter 2 of Role Reversal. Introducing the dark Jiraiya, that I gave new skills to. Why? Because I can, that's why.

Oh, and fact of the chapter: did you know that blonde is for a girl and blond is for a guy?

**Disclaimer: I don't own the manga, only this plot.**

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><p>"What? How the hell did he get in?" Anko shouted to her subordinates.<p>

She looked angry; she had a history with _him._ He was the reason she had the mark forever sealed on her neck. The others looked at her, surprised by the sudden change in her personality. One of them stepped up. "Anko-san, he took the appearance of another. We found the bodies of the missing team. Their faces were missing."

"Who were they?" she asked.

"They were a single team from Kusagakure. We can't identify it for sure, though. We're running the files for a description."

* * *

><p>The toad slammed one of its webbed feet where Naruto stood. In his words, an awesome ninja like him could dodge any attack.<p>

That thinking quickly faded, even though he dodged, he was captured by the tongue of the toad. He tried wriggling his way out, but it was futile. Naruto was stung in the slimy tongue of the beast, nowhere to escape.

With a small smile, the toad put him in his mouth. From inside the throat of it, Naruto yelled, "Let me out you damn frog!"

The inside of was extremely smelly, and the bones looked so sticky. _How did I get into this situation?_

* * *

><p><em>It wasn't him again? How many times can he get kidnapped?<em> Sakura thought. _And who exactly is this guy? I know he isn't that observant, not thinking about how Naruto couldn't remember any of that!_

Sasuke remembered this guy, he saw him during part one of the Exam. Remembering the kindness of the past one, and the current shinobi in front of him, they obviously weren't the same.

"Don't you want this scroll? It's the Earth Scroll, don't you need it to match your Heaven Scroll?" he taunted, waving the scroll before them.

Opening his large mouth, he ate the scroll whole. His head down, one dark eye visible under his hat. His big hand began to pull down the skin on his face. "Let's start the battle for the scrolls."

The, the two young ninja fell as though they were being impaled by dozens of kunai knives. With the final pain in their foreheads. Soon, they came back to reality; Sakura put her hand on the left side of her face. _Was that really genjutsu? It all felt so real…_

She started shaking; this was not the strength of a genin, or anybody human. Sasuke fell, shaking the same way as Sakura, starting to take out a kunai. Activating his sharingan, he threw the knife, only to have it flicked away by the lummox. The enemy retaliated, throwing several of his own, effectively winging Sakura's right shoulder, even though it was accidental. At least he got a hit, the Uchiha dodged.

She grabbed onto the wound. Sasuke looked her; the metal pain she felt was gone, replaced by physical pain. To stop his, he took out the kunai he dodged next to him, and lodged it into his thigh. _Erasing the pain of the genjutsu with physical pain, how smart. But he's not the one I'm looking for._ The enemy thought.

* * *

><p>"Spit me out, damn it!" Naruto shouted.<p>

The toad refused to spit him up, as he saw his master's silhouette.

Naruto wondered how to get out. Suddenly, he got it. **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**

The toad threw up violently, releasing Naruto and its own blood. A blood stained Naruto wiped off most of the red liquid off of his face. "Heh, like I'm going to lose here! I gotta get to Sakura-chan and Sasuke!"

Just when he started to run, he bumped into a man with a wide frame. Naruto fell on his back. He had white, messy, long hair with a horned forehead protector. It wasn't one for Konoha or any village, it said 'Oil'. His most noticeable traits that Naruto noticed were his wart and the red lines under his eyes.

"Uh, who're you?" Naruto wondered, propping himself on his elbows.

"Just call me Jiraiya-sama, kid," he said, holding his hand out.

The blond gladly took it, being pulled up easily and with such power. Jiraiya took his hand away, giving a smile. "Do you have a name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

"And do have anybody you want to defeat?"

"Yeah, and he thinks he's better than me at everything."

"I can help you beat him, if you want," Jiraiya persuaded.

"Really?" Naruto's face glowed. "What is it?"

Jiraiya patted the young boy's back. "I'll tell you."

* * *

><p>The large enemy disappeared from sight as Sasuke and Sakura hid behind a tree, Sakura's wound covered by one of Sasuke's arm warmers. "Sasu—"<p>

She was cut off by one of his hands clasping her mouth. He was panting heavily, making her worry; she's never seen him like this before. He turned his head to watch out for anybody nearby. Sakura tried to speak when she saw a large toad at his side.

Finally moving his hand, she was able to tell him about it, giving him enough time to dodge. He picked up his kunai, pointing it at the toad. Although, he was not able to stop other enemy shinobi from grabbing Sakura.

"This is not what I expected from an Uchiha!" a familiar voice rang from behind him.

He turned, seeing the same body as his previous enemy, but a different face. The enemy put his fingers in front of his forehead, flicking him with great power, knocking him several meters away and landing on his back. Sasuke was closing his heavy eyes, fading into the pain.

* * *

><p>"I'm serious!" Jiraiya smiled, to his soon-to-be student.<p>

"Whoa, that's so cool! Sasuke will be so jealous!" Naruto smiled back, now he was going to be able to finally beat his rival.

The young ninja was actually tricked into this, by someone he didn't know. When he turned his head from the old man, to straight ahead, where he saw his friends. "Sasuke, Sakura-chan!"

Naruto ran to them, the shinobi freeing them, when he saw someone shading over him, it was Jiraiya! "Jiraiya?"

Then the two look-alikes stood side by side, both speaking in unison. "Yes and no, kid."

Then the one with the Kusagakure mark disappeared as smoke. Sakura immediately went over to her teammates, Sasuke didn't look too good, and he was basically thrown around like a toy. "Is he okay, Naruto?"

"I-I think so," he said in an unsure voice. "Can you look after him for a while, Sakura-chan?"

She nodded taking his head in her lap, he was groaning, some bruises on his body. Naruto got up to his feet, anger burning in his blue eyes. "What is all of this, Jiraiya?"

The old sage smiled, this child was very naïve. His lackeys started to multiply, probably into shadow clones, summoning multiple weapons into their hands. "Let's see if you can handle this, Naruto."

* * *

><p>"Argh!" Naruto shouted, being hit yet again. So, this is what it's like in the Forest of Death.<p>

He could actually feel Jiraiya smirk, probably thinking he's pathetic. Picking up Naruto by the shoulder, Jiraiya examined the boy. He was an Uzumaki, more useful than an Uchiha in his eyes. His hand started to circulate with power, a deadly, dark aura.

Clasping it around Naruto's neck, it burned his skin, not for a flesh wound though, but he could feel something spreading on it. Releasing him, Naruto fell on his stomach, leaving the other two to be dealt with.

Sasuke was slowly regaining consciousness as Jiraiya was leaving. Sakura helped him get back up on his feet, stumbling around the same place. Seeing Naruto out-cold and the three enemy ninja leaving made him activate his two tomoe Sharingan.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Okay, I think I'm overpowering Jiraiya a bit, but I think it's relevant to the plot. Wasn't Orochimaru-dono also overpowered in the beginning? I think so, although he didn't have a strong clone, that I have described down here.

**Kage Sinkirou no Jutsu: **This is a jutsu where you can create an exact copy that can act freely. It uses a great amount of chakra to hold up. The name is supposed to mean Shadow Mirage Technique.

**Seal Giving: **So, he puts a certain chemical for his seal around his hand, when it comes into contact with human skin, a seal is randomly given. Naruto's will have something to do with the translation of his name.

Extra things: I will do Sakura's point of view later on, to develop her character more, and differently than the manga. Some could say that I'm making her "less useless". She will be given more techniques and abilities over time, but be sure that new moves and skills will appear for certain characters after a certain amount of time.


	3. Kurama

**A/N: **After rewriting a number of times, this is the product. And yes, I'm using phases, except for the beginning and ending. So, Phase 3: Kurama's Power. The speech or thoughts in bold belongs to Kurama. Yeah, only you guys know his name, Naruto doesn't, yet.

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><p>"Sasuke-kun," Sakura whispered.<p>

Sasuke looked back at his injured ally. _This guy….did that to Naruto?_

The blond groaned, something was burning on the side of his neck. It was probably an attack on him. Focusing his gaze back on the walking male and his team. He pulled out two shuriken, prepared to throw them.

Not thinking, he launched them at Jiraiya's lackeys, hitting them in the back of the neck, going through. They both fell, clutching their necks, already dead. Jiraiya turned over to look at the pools of bloods. "Aw, that's too bad. Why'd you have to kill them?"

"What did you do to Naruto?" Sasuke shouted.

Scratching the side of his cheek, near the red tear marks, he answered, "If you want to know, you have to show me your determination."

_He wants to see my determination? For what, to help Naruto?_

Grabbing his kunai, he dashed to Jiraiya, prepared to kill. He was so close to the enemy, until Jiraiya grabbed his head, keeping him in place. "How did you…"

"Never underestimate a Sannin, kid," Jiraiya smiled.

* * *

><p>"<strong>So useless," <strong>Kurama growled from within Naruto.

Naruto was laying on the floor, in front of Kurama's gate. He pulled himself up, a stinging sensation on his neck. Wincing, he grabbed it.

"What is this?" he wondered.

"**A seal. More specifically, a cursed seal." **Kurama looked at the young ninja. **"That sage gave it to you."**

"Jiraiya," Naruto said quietly, before stating louder, "Jiraiya!"

"**Hm?"**

"H-he said he was going to teach me something, then, the next thing I know, I'm being tossed around by his students, or lackeys, or whatever!"

Kurama smiled. **"You want to protect your friends, right?"**

He nodded; maybe Kurama could trick him into releasing him today. **"The use my power to save them." **

"Huh?"

"**If you use my chakra, you'll be able to get rid of him and show Sasuke your power."**

"But if I use your power, it's not really mine. Anyway, I'm not supposed to let you out!" Naruto glared.

"**Do you want to save your friends? If you do, then just use me! If you don't your precious friend might not make it!" **Kurama was getting exceedingly angered.

Forcing his chakra onto the emotions of Naruto, the one in front of his fell back, his eyes closed. This meant that he was conscious. **"If this happens every time I actually try to be nice, I'll start ignoring your calls. Especially since I only gave you a small taste of my power."**

* * *

><p>Naruto opened his eyes; Sakura was right above him, although he saw her upside-down. "Where's Sasuke?"<p>

She retreated, as Naruto propped himself on his elbows. "Sasuke-kun is over there." She pointed to him.

He was being held in place by Jiraiya. Naruto stood up, thinking this to be a chance to prove what power he has. It was supposed to be his raw strength, until he felt Kurama's chakra. With this much power overflowing, he was summoning shadow clones by his side, the overflow of power shielding him from the mark on his neck.

Jiraiya looked smug until he turned to see an agitated Naruto. He was surrounded by a powerful aura, the whisker marks on his face were more feral, his claws and fangs had extended, giving him the appearance of a wild animal.

Sasuke took this opportunity to kick the sage in the chest, pushing him away. Because of that, he was unaware of the other boy running toward him. The shadow clones had trapped him, the real Naruto doing a repeated assault.

Sakura felt useless, her friends were fighting as hard as they could while she just watched. Analyzing the battle, she nervously grabbed her kunai, standing up in the process. She rushed to Jiraiya when Naruto had left an open space. Although she was only able to go to the side of him, she was able to see on her weapon that she got part of his forearm.

"Nice one, Sakura!" Naruto growled.

Sakura could tell by his tone that he was praising her. Caught up in that, she accidentally tripped on her own feet, to be caught in the arms of Sasuke. "Are you okay?"

She was red, but was nodding to him. Sasuke looked over at Naruto. "Good work. Now the enemy is wounded, I doubt he'll be able to use his right arm for a while."

"So, do you think that Naruto can do this by himself?"

Smirking, he answered, "No way, even with that, he's going to need some help."

Getting her back up on her feet, he leaped up, going to hit Jiraiya. While smiling darkly, the sage formed a seal with his right hand. It wasn't one of the basic seals, it was a custom one. With that, Naruto growled in pain, falling on his side, clutching his neck.

The wound on Jiraiya's forearm disappeared. Turning back to Sasuke, he threw him away. Naruto was still in pain. Sasuke got up on his knees, dusting himself off. "Naruto, get up! Are you going to submit to the pain? Come on!"

Sakura thought for a second, and came to a realization. "He's right, Naruto! If you don't get up, you'll never be acknowledged!"

_Never….acknowledged? _

_**I can't help you with this, but I can't let you be killed here!**_

Rising up, Naruto used some information he learned about Jiraiya. **Harem no Jutsu!**

Female clones of Naruto appeared all around Jiraiya. Knowing that he was a pervert, he decided to use it. The perverted sage's nose bled. _**You use my chakra for this?**_

_Well, I'm going to win, anyway!_

Summoning more clones, he took advantage of Jiraiya's state.

"U!" He started the combo, pounding Jiraiya repeatedly.

"ZU!" Using more force, he started to do the same as what he practiced before.

"MA!" He and his clones smiled smugly.

"KI!" Naruto finished the combo with a final hit, knocked Jiraiya off of his feet.

"Naruto!" Sakura smiled, as Jiraiya fell.

"Like I said before, I won't stop until I become Hokage!" Naruto promised.

_**Will you go to any length to obtain that dream?**_

_You bet!_

_**Be careful what you wish for.**_

Sasuke started to get up, amazed at the power he saw from Naruto. He'll never say it, but that looked even stronger than anything he had ever seen. Second only to _his _skill.

Jiraiya just smiled. "I'm not going to let you go that easily."

With that, the sage disappeared, leaving the three to recuperate. "That was great, wasn't it, Sakura-chan?"

"It was okay," she joked, getting him angry. "Kidding, it was actually great, Naruto!"

* * *

><p>"Easy targets. Just standing around, believing that they can just strut out of here. What do you think?" Dosu asked his teammates, Kin and Zaku.<p>

The other two just smirked and snickered. "This is too easy."

* * *

><p>"Anko-san, look at this!" a Chuunin called over from the TV screen.<p>

"What is it?" She asked

The static leaving the screen, it showed Team Baki, better known to them as the Suna Siblings killing a single team and eventually obtaining both scrolls.

"What are these kids?" she wondered, taking a closer look at Gaara.

"That boy is the Jinchuuriki of the Shukaku," one of them said.

_Shukaku?_

"The team also completed this in 97 minutes!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** You're welcome for that bit of light humor (Well, it was supposed to be). I introduced the Uzumaki Naruto Rendan earlier. I just believe that it should be used in this situation. Oh, and I changed around the timeline a bit. This explains why Team Dosu is introduced after Jiraiya. But the scroll is gone, so I have to get it another way.


	4. Team Dosu

**A/N: **I think I've been gone for a while because I've been writing my own personal story, looking up comedians on YouTube, and researching Avatar: The Legend of Korra (Coming out on April 14th!). And I've moved the update date from irregular to every two weeks on Saturday. Because of this, I'm making this chapter extra-long.

Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, own the Naruto franchise. If I did, the artwork would suck because I'm not that great with drawing the characters.

* * *

><p>"Hey!" Naruto shouted at her joke.<p>

Sasuke just shook his head, a smile still on his face. That was, until, he remembered the Heaven scroll. He checked for it, relieved to find that he still had it.

Sakura sensed that someone was watching them and froze. Sasuke looked concerned for her. "Sakura, what's going on?"

"I think somebody's watching us," she whispered, making the other two raise their guard.

Team Dosu silently snickered at their reactions. Dosu noticed that there was a mark on Naruto's neck, and raised his left eyebrow. He lowered his voice so that Zaku and Kin could hear him. "Look what we have here. It seems as though this little brat was chosen by Jiraiya-sama."

The other two had to take a second to see the seal because it was partially obstructed by the collar of his shirt. The toad sage gave him a great power that, combined with his natural chakra power, would make him unstoppable one day.

Dosu stood up from his crouching position and smirked under the wrapping around his mouth. "Let's have some fun with this team."

* * *

><p>"I knew I shouldn't have—" Iruka was angered when he knew of the attack on Team 7 by another enemy team.<p>

Kakashi knew that Iruka couldn't stop himself from knowing what was going on with Naruto. He was going to Hokage to tell him about this until the copy-nin stopped him in his tracks.

"Are you sure you should be doing that?" Kakashi inquired.

"Of course, I'm sure! Naruto was attacked and almost killed by another team!" Iruka shouted.

Kakashi tried to calm him down. "It is the Forest of Death for a reason, Iruka. If he cannot get past this obstacle, then how do we expect him to be strong?"

The academy teacher realized this, but his protectiveness of Naruto caused him to be stubborn on this subject. "He's one of your students, isn't he? You should be going to the Hokage as well, Kakashi!"

"That maybe so, but I don't think you understand the whole point of this exam."

"I took this exam before, and I'm well aware of the idea, but the thing that happened to Naruto looked dangerous."

"Dangerousness is a key element of this test, so just let it be, Iruka." Kakashi patted his back.

Iruka had calmed down, sighing as a hint of relaxation. The silver-haired male started walking Iruka out of the building. "Let's get you some ramen, Iruka."

* * *

><p>Lee was running like a cheetah through the trees of the forest, completely forgetting the fact that he had to meet up with his team. He felt a strange urge to go this way, probably because something was going on. Thanks to his taijutsu training, he had no problem with this type of physical activity.<p>

On his way, he saw Team Asuma behind some bushes. Although he would never admit it himself, he somewhat thought they were cowardly. Taking his focus off of them, he saw a group of people, a team he had never seen before and—

"Sasuke-kun, Sakura-san, Naruto-kun!" He shouted before skidding to stop in the area.

He took a look at each of the three behind him. Sasuke and Naruto looked beat up while Sakura looked stressed and exhausted. Lee saw his enemies; they had a certain air around them that made him feel uneasy.

"What did you do?" Lee glared.

"Lee-san, it wasn't them," Sakura answered. "It was someone else."

"Anybody that hurts my allies is my enemy!" Lee shouted.

"Hey, Zaku, get Sasuke-kun for us," Dosu commanded.

Sasuke stiffened, these guys weren't normal genin. Zaku approached his new prey, chuckling at the weakened Uchiha.

Lee started attacking Dosu with his taijutsu, catching the eye of Zaku and the full attention of Kin.

* * *

><p>"Where are all the weak guys?" Chōji dropped on his back, sighing.<p>

"Well, we're the weakest ones here," Shikamaru said.

"You're the genius; make a super plan to beat every team!" Ino yelled.

"Even the smartest guys will crumble under the pressure. Especially when it's a life or death matter," he explained.

Chōji started eating some berries that he had found earlier while the other two were arguing. It was calm at first until Ino started yelling louder.

"Ugh, why do I have to be on a team with a lazy ass and a fatty?" Ino shouted.

Chōji was offended and retorted, "I am not fat! I'm pleasantly chubby!"

"Quiet, Ino. I think that someone will be able to hear you with the battle that going on close by," Shikamaru yawned.

"Battle? What battle?"

"Y'know, the one where your precious Sasuke and his teammates are going to get pummeled," Chōji said, his voice muffled by the large amount of fruit in his mouth.

_How come both of these guys knew and I didn't?_ Ino yelled internally.

_Man, this is really troublesome. Especially with Ino here. I think that God gave her good looks to cover up all of her crazy. _Shikamaru thought.

"Rock Lee's also there," Shikamaru added to Chōji's statement.

"Ha! Sasuke's going to win, of course! The other two are losers and they can't do anything," Ino scoffed.

Chōji got up, looking to where the teams were fighting. "Hey, look at this!"

The other two looked over to see a weakened Team 7 and Lee.

* * *

><p>"<em>I-I did it, Gai-sensei!" Lee cried tears of joy at his newly accomplished skill.<em>

"_That's great, Lee!" Gai gave his signature smile before adding, seriously, "But you can only use it when under certain conditions."_

"_Conditions?"_

"_Yes and the only condition for using the Lotus Skill is to…"_

He started undoing the white bandages on his forearms. Lee started to think about Sakura and Gai. _Sorry, Gai-sensei, but now is the time to protect a precious person!_

In a flash, he started one of his most powerful attacks. First, he kicked Dosu in the air and then appeared behind of him. Dosu was surprised at the power that this Leaf Genin had. He heard a voice behind him. "Don't you dare think that this fight is over!"

Suddenly, he was wrapped around in the white bandages of Lee. With that, they went head first into the ground.

Zaku was shocked at that sight. "Dosu can't protect himself that way!"

The two started to rotate at a ferocious speed. When they both hit the ground, dust made a cloud around that area. **Front Lotus!**

When it cleared, Lee landed on his two feet, squatting on the ground and his hand giving him balance. _M-my body….this feeling…._

On the other hand, Dosu was in the ground, the upper half of his body stuck in it. Zaku grinned, he did it in time.

Kin was on the sidelines, probably because she did not need to do much. With a muffled groan, Dosu got out of the hole. "What a powerful technique that's able to do this kind of damage."

Lee, concerned for his comrades' safety, yelled to them, "Sakura-san, get Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun away!"

She nodded, taking her male teammates out of the area, only stopped by Kin. Kin smirked at the sore shinobi. "Heh, trying to get away this easily?"

The enemy kunoichi took out several senbon and already had a victorious expression. Zaku accompanied her, not wanting her to steal all of the fun.

Their leader only took a glance at the other battle before returning to Lee. He rose up his right arm and swiped at Lee's torso. Luckily, the attack missed, but Lee could feel even greater strain on his body.

"You move at high speed, don't you? Well, I move at _sound _speed," Dosu gloated at the panting genin in front of him. "I'll show you a strength that surpasses all of your hard work!"

He felt a pain in his left ear and grabbed it. Lee saw blood on his hand. _My ear!_

"My attacks are one you can't dodge, no matter how quick you may be!"

* * *

><p>Sasuke looked over Zaku and saw the kneeling Lee. Kin threw senbon past Sasuke, telling him to keep his attention over to his current situation. She scanned all of her enemies and laughed at them internally.<p>

Zaku turned his eyes toward Naruto and raised his eyebrow. "So you're the one that Jiraiya-sama chose?"

Kin smiled and disappeared. Naruto looked all around to see where she had gone. "Where'd you go?"

The sound of Sakura grunt turned each of their heads. Kin had Sakura by the end of her hair, just smirking.

"Hey, let go of her!" Sasuke yelled.

"Let Sakura-chan go!" Naruto growled.

'_Let go of her', 'Let Sakura-chan go', I'll protect you with my life', everyone is protecting me. Why am I like this? No. I'm going to show them I can protect myself!_

Sakura weakly took out one of her kunai knives, making her male teammates focus their gaze on her and her situation even more.

"I don't need them to protect me all of the time," she whispered before taking the blade to her hair.

* * *

><p>"W-what?" Ino immediately said while watching her ex-best friend cut the end of her hair off.<p>

"She actually did that…." Shikamaru had thought that girls like Sakura were too vain to do that.

* * *

><p>Her pink locks were now both on the ground and in Kin's hand. Naruto stared at Sakura who was on his knees, some of her hair next to her. "S-Sakura-chan…."<p>

"Wow, that took some guts, girlie," Zaku said, "but that won't get you guys free from us."

Kin was also in slight shock of what happened. Sasuke believed that Zaku was caught off guard and tried to hit him only to have his fist caught by him. "Did you really think I wasn't watching you, Uchiha?"

Something in Naruto seemed to start to overflow. It wasn't the fox's power, instead it was a different kind, a power that even scared him. It came from the wound on his neck.

Sasuke saw what was happening to his blond rival. Something was taking over the side of his neck, it was a kind of seal on his neck. It had the design of multiple swirls, matching the symbol of the Uzushiogakure he wore on his back.

It covered the left side of his body, as it was also on his hand. Zaku reached over to harm Sakura until Naruto grabbed his left arm and he started to twist it. Zaku was wincing and groaning in pain until his arm was dislocated.

* * *

><p>Dosu started to explain to Lee his power. "If you dodge my fist, my sound will get you instead. Do you know what sound is?"<p>

"Vibrations," Lee answered.

"Correct. Your eardrum will break by a sound that exceeds 150 MHz, and even deeper into the ear is the inner ear membrane, and when it's damaged, you lose your balance. Now, with your weakened body and your lame taijutsu, I won't need either Kin's or Zaku's help."

Dosu then roundhouse kicked Lee on the face. Lee was on his stomach, groaning and still holding onto his ear. Now,he lost against a foreign ninja who insulted his hard work. Even with this kind of drive, he still couldn't defeat Dosu.

* * *

><p>"Naruto, how did you…" Sasuke didn't finish his sentence because Naruto cut him off. "Sasuke, help Lee and Sakura or I swear I'll kill you!"<p>

Normally, he would've been angered by that statement, but Naruto had the right idea. The blond turned his attention to Kin, who tried to hide her fear with taunting.

* * *

><p>"Look at that," Shikamaru said. "This isn't good, even if they look like they're winning."<p>

Chōji look at Shikamaru. "Why is it bad?"

"Well, Chōji, Naruto might still get beaten because of the fact that he's still beat up, and so are the other three.

"Lee's probably beaten, Sasuke looks like he could get whipped, and Naruto looks like he's going insane. Sakura is capable of getting through this, but if she gets cornered, she's done for. What do you think we should do, Ino?" Shikamaru asked.

When she didn't respond he tried again, "Ino?"

* * *

><p>"<em>Hey, why are you so serious today?" Ino asked Sakura.<em>

"_Ino-chan," Sakura started._

"_What is it?" She wondered._

"_I heard you also like Sasuke-kun," Sakura said blankly._

_From that day on, we were rivals for Sasuke-kun's heart. But why am I remembering that right now?_

* * *

><p>"We can't just jump out! We need a plan!" Ino said.<p>

Ino remembered that Sakura had enough courage to cut off her own hair, so Ino had to do something. She formed the Yamanaka hand sign, and turned to Shikamaru. "Take care of my body, will you?"** Shintenshin no Jutsu!**

Her body fell into his arms. He had to admit it, she did seem a lot prettier when her mouth wasn't moving and he couldn't hear her voice.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Okay, I threw around some events. Why? Because I can, that's why. Oh, and about the ending of this chapter, you can interpret it any way you want: as a ShikaIno moment or just something to weakly insult Ino. I have nothing against her, but I think I made her too loud, what do you think?

Oh, and before I forget, Shintenshin no Jutsu, means the Mind Body Switch Technique. And the Yamanaka hand sign, is of course, the hand seal that is used for that jutsu.

Just to be clear, I am a FEMALE. Some of you might not be aware of this, though. Oh, and just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I'll make pairing unless it's necessary to the plot, in this case, it's not.

I also hope that you like this chapter, especially the overprotective Iruka for the ladies. Trust me, Orochimaru will appear sometime in the future, and I'm pretty sure you'll like him.


	5. Student vs Teacher

**A/N: **You know what, screw dates. I'll upload whenever the hell I feel like. Now, here's Phase Five: Student vs. Teacher.

Disclaimer: I don't own this series or else Asuma would still be alive and the Suna Siblings would get WAY more screen time (because I love them).

* * *

><p>Naruto had the seals design covering a side of his body. The swirls were a pitch black; it seemed even darker due to his tanned skin. Kin's head was down.<p>

A different sense of chakra came from her, although it was hard to detect. Even though her head was dropped, he could see a smirk on her face.

_All right! _Ino thought in Kin's body.

Ino raised her head with a grin. "Hey, Naruto."

His mouth went open. This girl was different from before. "W-what?"

* * *

><p><em>Just who is this guy? <em>Sasuke thought as he and Sakura stopped in front of Dosu.

"Sakura, take Lee and hide," Sasuke ordered.

"No. I'm not going to run," she answered in a stern voice.

Lee looked at her. "S-sakura-san."

She stepped in front of Lee and looked at Dosu in the eye. "Why are you doing this to my friends?"

* * *

><p>Jiraiya lay on the forest, seeming to wait to be caught a certain someone. "Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, Sakura-chan, interesting kids. Especially the blond one, huh, Minato?"<p>

His dark eyes looked up at the leaves on the trees. A grin formed on his face as he took out a book. He stared at the cover; it read a word at the upper right corner, Kasho.

On the back, it had the author's name, Orochimaru. He always was a man of artistic talent. Something Jiraiya could never do, even if he tried to make masterpieces.

When he was about to open it, to see his old friend's work, a kunai went through the air and took it. Jiraiya looked at the book, pierced by the kunai, on the tree to his left. "Is that you, Anko-chan?"

Anko stiffened behind the tree to his right. He was unwavering, one of the things she always hated about him. The sage stood up and wiped the possible dirt off of himself. "Why aren't you answering?"

She revealed herself and he made a grin. "Nice day, isn't it?"

"Shut up!" she yelled. Anko never liked the prospect of their confrontation to be like this. She knew, but had hope that it wouldn't be this way.

Why did he always treat her with respect, but never found her amusing. How come he was only interested in others and not her?

* * *

><p>"Jiraiya-sensei, look!" Anko yelled happily to her teacher.<p>

The left side of her body had the design of swirls. He patted her head while giving her a big grin. She was making progress, but he just wasn't….

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Anko wondered.

"I'm just so glad that you could do this. But the thing is, I want you to learn Level 2," Jiraiya answered.

"Level 2? I thought that this was the only one."

"Well, I thought you would try to access Level 2 before Level 1 if I told you."

"What is it? What is it?" Her enthusiasm was amazing, as well as her feistiness. "Come on, tell me!"

"It is the last part of this training. Come on, I'll tell you," he said, motioning for her to follow him.

Anko smiled and followed her master into the small village. The days were always like this. Bright, happy, warm, but also full of Jiraiya's ulterior motive.

* * *

><p><em>And I believed your every word. Every time you praised me, every time you said you believed in me, every time you said that I was the most important thing in the world to you.<em>

Anko glared at him. How could a man, so dark and evil, be so happy and almost father-like?

Every time Jiraiya took a step forward, she would take one back. He looked hurt, but she knew that it was a false expression. "You're so cold, Anko-chan."

Jiraiya was mischievous. He could easily fool people with false emotions that seemed genuine. Jiraiya flashed away for a second and reappeared next to Anko, facing the direction where her back was turned.

"Is something wrong?" He grinned darkly.

"Yes. You're still alive!" Anko yelled, turning to attack him with a kunai.

Of course, she missed. A Tokubetsu Jōnin against a legendary Sannin? The outcome would be obvious, even to perfect strangers.

"You know, Anko-chan, you really were a special kid."

_No I wasn't. You only played me; you only wanted to use my body as a weapon to surpass your rival. _Anko growled as he took out a book. "You ruined my other one, so I guess I have to use my spare."

"What are you planning to do?" Anko asked seriously.

"Read. What else is a book good for if you can't read it?"

She prepared herself for an attack, but was surprised when Jiraiya seemingly started a casual conversation.

"Have you heard the poem that focuses on the beauty of a single falling leaf? If you don't, it goes like this," he cleared his throat.

He opened his mouth and continued, "'Beauty that's withheld, flying in the gentle wind, a leaf is falling'."

Anko looked at the old sage, who looked deep in thought. "By Orochimaru-sama?"

"Yes, yes. You seem to know your fine art, Anko-chan. Do you know what kind of poem it is?"

"Haiku, Japanese poetry that has a focus on nature."

Jiraiya nodded with a grin before secretly forming a hand seal. When the seal was fully formed, Anko grabbed the side of her neck and fell to her knees. Jiraiya kept the seal and stepped closer to Anko.

"Now, Anko-chan, just because you've been freed, doesn't mean I didn't like you. You were special, but your body wasn't compatible with what I needed you to learn. I have found someone who could. Do you know that little blond boy?"

"N-Naruto?" she asked.

He patted her head and kept walking, until Anko, still trembling from that pain, took out a shuriken and threw it at Jiraiya.

Using the hand he formed the seal with, Jiraiya grabbing from the center. He started to spin it around on his index finger while he watched Anko rise. She had unshakable determination in her brown eyes as she glared at him.

The control of her seal was great, since she had been training to keep it that way, but it seemed to want to break free whenever she met the sage's eyes.

Although her will was great, the seal broke free. The swirling design covering the left side her body when she sprinted toward Jiraiya. A strong, fierce, wind swirled around her arm as she swiped with her forearm.

Her attack didn't really connect as she executed the move, but it was able to make a small cut on his face. With little effort, but great power, he pushed her away.

She skid on the ground as she used her left hand to stop herself. When she was in one place, she looked at her hand. It had a warm sensation, as a light burn would, but the seal had its magic. And one of them was to block out some wounds.

Jiraiya was staring at the panting Anko, while inwardly admiring her determination at trying to fight him. She really was a special case, the only survivor of his first attempt at the seal giving. Ten children, Anko was the only one that lived.

His new subject, Naruto, could surpass her, with his family clan and parents in mind. When it came to his current apprentice would never reach their level.

Anko got back up and took out multiple shuriken in her hand. She was always the best shot in her class, even now. She could remember working with Jiraiya about her aim.

With aim, precision, and perception, she threw them all, with the calculations of where he could go. Almost each of them had missed, landing on the trees and ground, making an image of the symbol of Konoha.

The final one, the last one, hit Jiraiya on the right shoulder. A dark red liquid started to flow from the wound. Jiraiya pulled it out and licked the blood.

The metallic taste was familiar to his tongue, as he had done it when he was younger. He and Anko were so similar, in many ways, she was his daughter.

Anko made a small triumphant grin when she saw it hit, but had an unsurprised look when she saw her old teacher taste the blood.

"Do you want to know something, Anko-chan?"

"What?" she asked while staring at him intently.

"You've been replaced," he answered, some sadness touched his voice, while throwing back the shuriken to pierce her abdomen.

Her seal retracted as she fell on her side, afraid to fall forward, as the weapon could be forced in. Anko's started to close as she saw her former master walk off.

Her mind fell into darkness, with only a small light that wasn't the light of death. Secretly, she was hoping that the afterlife would release her from this hell, but she had a duty to kill Jiraiya.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **That's the chapter. I ended it with Anko falling unconscious because I wanted the fight to be the main focus of only this part of the story. The conclusion of the battle between Team Dosu and the group of Team Kakashi, Team Asuma, and Lee will be next chapter.

Oh, and the haiku that Jiraiya recited, I wrote that in about thirty seconds, using my fingers to count the syllables.

I also plan to make Anko a main character because I like how she's written in the original. In this, I want her to be as central as Sakura.

Now, with Jiraiya and his personality, as the mischievous character I want to make him, I let him use honorifics. With his emotions, he really liked Anko, but she just wasn't right. That's basically the type of message that I tried to make.

If you found him talking to Minato, then you really read the story. I just like the relationship I'm going to make between them, as well as Orochimaru's.

And lastly, Kasho means book of poems, which is the genre, not the name of Orochimaru's books. Until next time! Oh, and don't forget to review if you liked it, or my other chapters! Pretty please? I know some of you alerted and/or favorited and reviews would be very, VERY appreciated.


	6. InoShikaChō

**A/N: **Okay, my sixth chapter and three reviews. I'm still going to try, damn it! Now, Anko was the major character in the last chapter, and probably for the continuation for this story because I find her an interesting character to write. Why? She worked with a fucking Sannin! Excuse my language.

Oh, and to Ely, who review my last chapter, I have a response to your review at the end. Don't worry, it's not really negative.

Disclaimer: I hate writing these, but I don't own the Naruto anime/manga. Happy now?

* * *

><p>Naruto looked confused at the new personality of his enemy. Was she just messing with him?<p>

Ino noticed the markings on his body. He looked so _different_. "Are you okay?"

He didn't respond with words. Naruto only stared intently at her.

She started to step forward as he took a more defensive position. "Hey, Naruto, is something wrong? You look weird."

She then realized that she didn't confirm who she was. "Oh, I forgot to tell you."  
>"What?" he growled.<p>

"It's me!"

Naruto seemed to be confused. He raised his eyebrow as she started to spell out a word. "I-N-O. Ino. Yamanaka Ino."

"Ino?" he asked in a curious manner.

"Yep, but I don't have time to chit-chat right now. We have got to save Sasuke-kun!" A fire burned in her eyes.

_Wow, she really likes him. That Sasuke-Idiot. _He watched as she started to walk to the battle against Dosu. Ino looked like she was strutting to take Sakura's spotlight.

"Answer me: why are you doing this to my friends?" she yelled again at Dosu.

Under the bandages on his face, he smirked. Dosu sighed and just called over to his comrades. "Kin, Zaku, playtime's over. Let's go."

Dosu seemed surprised because only Zaku followed his order. Zaku was grunting as he started to rise off of the ground, grabbing his arm.

"Kin, what are you doing? Let's go," Zaku said.

Naruto had a small plan. He was unsure if Ino wanted to be a part of it, but he had to try, right?

With a single movement, he took out a kunai knife and rushed to Ino. Under the effects of the seal, he was able to do it quickly. He was restraining her hands and had the kunai pressed to her throat.

"N-Naruto, what are you doing?" Ino stuttered quietly so that only he could hear her.

"If you die in this body, you'll go back to your own, right?" Naruto wondered.

"No, you dumbass. If I die in this body, the girl who this body belongs to and I will both die!" she whispered back.

He lowered his voice. "Well, then I guess we only have one shot, huh?"

* * *

><p>Orochimaru was on the ledge of the railing around the building he was currently residing in. A small pigeon was walking on the ground to his right. Its wing had been injured, now it was being targeted by a hawk from above.<p>

Before the snake Sannin could do anything, the hawk swooped down and grabbed the poor, defenseless bird in its talons. His eyes softened at the attack of the innocent animal.

"Jiraiya, my old friend, you want to surpass me this badly? I didn't want our rivalry to go this far." Orochimaru looked at the cloudless sky.

Then, involuntarily, he saw two blue jays in a tree nearby and started to write about it in the manuscript of his next collection of poems.

"Should I write in haiku, or maybe an elegy, wait, what about ….." he trailed off in his thoughts, being completely oblivious to anything around him. It was one of his many bad habits.

* * *

><p>Naruto was an idiot to most, but when it came to battle, his strategies were amazing; no matter how bad he was in the classroom. Being Naruto, he could fool others easily because most of them believe that he's a complete idiot. He's somewhat of one, but not too much.<p>

Zaku raised one of his eyebrows and walked backwards to be near Dosu. "What do we do, Dosu?"

"He's bluffing," he answered, extending his arms.

With a smirk hidden, he rushed over to Naruto, who let go of Ino. Dosu made a small leap as he threw back his arm for more force and quickly brought it back to Naruto.

Naruto went into a defensive stance as he blocked it, being affected by the sounds of the Kyōmeisen. He could feel the blood spilling out of his ear and hear it drop on the ground.

* * *

><p>"<strong>Hm?" <strong>Kurama seemed interested in his container.

_**What's this power I feel from him? **_

Naruto lay in the water in front of Kurama's gate. A mark on his neck was growing on his body as he rose up, his eyes a darker shade of blue. _**I like this aura from him. It's….strong. Stronger than him, anyway.**_

"Hey, Kyūbi," Naruto started, getting onto his feet, "What do you think about Konoha?"

The fox looked curiously at him. Naruto's head was down as he asked that question. When Naruto rose looked up, his eyes were red, the whites of his eyes now black, without the marks he had previously seen. "Well, what _do _you think?"

Kurama's mouth pulled into a grin as he looked at Naruto, two pairs of red eyes meeting. **"I think that…"**

* * *

><p>Naruto opened his closed eyes as he skid on the dirt. When he stopped, he was a sitting duck. Not only did he not move, he extending his arms to the sides, as if wanting to be attacked.<p>

Both Dosu and Zaku lifted up their eyebrows. As did Shikamaru's, who was thinking of a plan, Chōji's, who was awaiting his signal, and lastly, Sakura's.

"N-Naruto," Ino and Sakura said to themselves in unison from different places.

Dosu was only a few feet from the blond shinobi, but was fully prepared to attack. _Kin seems…off._

As Ino was only several yards behind Naruto, she was too frightened to move. Intimidated by the fact that Dosu could attack with sound and that Zaku was probably able to overpower her even with a broken arm.

Doing a fast cartwheel, he jumped up over Naruto, heading to the kunoichi behind him.

Shikamaru felt the instinct to save his teammate, but the coward inside him wouldn't allow him to do anything.

As she ran, she tried to release Kin. Dosu got closer from the air and took out a shuriken. Right before he landed and before she was able to release Kin, he threw it to her back.

It was futile to dodge, although she only got hit on the back of her left shoulder because Dosu was smart enough to deduce not to damage any vital limbs or organs.

Kin landed on her stomach and her left cheek was to the ground. She had a small injury, but it wouldn't be enough to kill her.

Ino returned back to her body on the grass. A small trail of blood trickled down the side of her mouth. Quickly, she wiped it away, propping herself up as Shikamaru was in his thinking position. Ino wondered how long he had been doing that.

"All right," he said, taking out several kunai.

"Where's Chōji?" She went into a crouching position next to him.

"Hope you don't mind, but we decided to switch things up, Ino."

"Meaning….?"

"It means we're going to use Chōji's part of our formation first, and then we'll go into action." He looked at her. "Get ready."

She had a determined look on her face as she pulled multiple shuriken and put each of them between her fingers. "So what's the plan, Mr. Genius?"

Ignoring her honorific, he stared intently at Dosu. "Well, Chōji's going to use his Nikudan Sensha then we'll go in for the final part.

_I have to do this right, or Shikamaru might be in trouble! _Chōji was prepared to do his part of the job.

He used his Baika no Jutsu to expand in order to use his Nikudan Sensha. His next move would be the one that would help the others get rid of these genin punks.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So, let's get onto the response, shall we?

To Ely: To do have a point there, but there's one flaw in that idea for me. Naruto can't learn Rasengan if he's with Orochimaru. Basically, Naruto has to have Rasengan and the Kage Bunshin, or else he's not Naruto to me. The idea was good, but not flawless. Besides, who wants Naruto to be the snake in this? He'd be kind of a weird guy, huh?

Anyway, here are the jutsu translations! It's kind of hard to find the Japanese way of saying it, but I like them in Japanese rather than english.

Nikudan Sensha – Human Bullet Tank

Baika no Jutsu – Multi-Size Technique

Oh, and the genin punks are Team Dosu, just to clarify. Check out Ending 21 Cascade by UNLIMITS, if you haven't already. In my mind, it should be the opening. And set the music from opening 10 to Opening 11, it really fits!

Lastly, I put Dark Naruto in early because I felt like it. In my case, I really didn't like this chapter, so it's alright if you don't, okay? The only reason I made it this way was to introduce the Dark Naruto and start the Ino-Shika-Chō formation.


	7. Team Dosu Exits

**A/N: **I'm getting more reviews, yes! Thank all of you for reviewing. And thank you to Vordax0110, for telling me I don't have to do the disclaimer for each chapter. I was paranoid. Now, I can do a more flexible story, in my opinion because I got the other chapter out of the way. So, read and review, the button is just below my Author's Notes.

* * *

><p>Chōji glared at his Dosu, who was starting to descend, as he growled, "Y'know, Naruto, you're only making this hard for me."<p>

_Well, if I hit you, then too bad._

Chōji activated his Nikudan Sensha, rolling at top-speed on the ground, tearing apart any obstacle in his way. Dosu's eyes were closed as he landed on the ground.

Even through the wind rushing in his direction because of the technique, Chōji spotted an unconscious Kin in front of him. Making a jump, which was hard to do, due to his weight, he skipped over the girl and was nearing Dosu.

Sasuke snapped out of the trance he was in, which had been because of the recent battle situations. He realized that Naruto was going to be hit and rushed over to the blond.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled as he put his arm to the side of Naruto's neck and pulled him over to left of Dosu.

Naruto was caught by surprise as the seal retracted back to his neck. The two boys landed on their sides as Chōji rammed into Dosu, taking the both of them into the tree, yards away.

"Dosu!" Zaku shouted while he put Kin's arm over his own shoulder.

When Chōji released his Baika no Jutsu, he took a jump back as Ino and Shikamaru ran from their hiding place to surround Zaku.

Sakura and Ino exchanged looks for a second as Naruto and Sasuke rose, covered with dirt. Naruto checked his left hand to see if he still had the marks. _Thank Kami._

Dosu was now sitting at the bottom of the tree in front of Chōji. Zaku and a knocked out Kin were being kept in place by Ino and Shikamaru.

"Leave them," Sasuke said.

"But—" Sakura was cut off by Sasuke.

"Just let them, Sakura."

Zaku growled as the two members of Team Asuma backed off, lowering their weapons. "Dosu, are you ready?"

The leader of them stood up, stumbling due to the massive force put on him and nodded. The three of them disappeared quickly, moving at a speed of a Jōnin.

Lee got up, still holding his ear and smiled. "Nice work, guys!"

Ino smirked at Sakura. "But Team Kakashi almost got killed."

"Shut it, Ino-buta-chan!" Sakura retorted.

"Can we just shut up?" Naruto shouted at the two girls, unafraid of what Sakura might do later on in the day.

Shikamaru sighed as Chōji stood by his side. "I have to agree with Naruto on this, Ino. Frankly, I believe that we should get the hell out of here or we'll be dead last. Maybe we won't even get through this exam, after all."

"Shikamaru!" Ino yelled. "Don't say that!"

Chōji looked over at Ino and stated, "He's right, we should get out of here."

She looked flushed as Shikamaru and Chōji started to walk away. Ino stuck her tongue out at Sakura and said, "See you later, Forehead girl."

Refraining from that expression, she gave a smile to Sasuke and added, "See you, too, Sasuke-kun."

With that said, she ran off to join her teammates.

_Damn her! _Sakura's inner personality was going off at this point.

Naruto's eyelids started to get heavier as he fell on his back and shut them.

"Can we sleep, Sakura-chan?" he yawned.

* * *

><p>"<strong>I think that …the people of Konoha are… how should I put this? To be honest and blunt, I think that the people of Konoha can go to hell. How about you, human?" <strong>Kurama chuckled.

"Me? They shunned me for years, not caring if a little kid was in a bad place, depressed, or even taken care of. How am I supposed to fell, Kyūbi?" Naruto's newly red eyes glowed.

"**I hate that word. I suggest you refrain from using it to talk to me,"** Kurama said.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and bared his sharp teeth in a grin, "Then what should I call you?"

"**Call me by my name, human. It's Kurama." **The fox admitted.

"Kurama, huh? Nice name and I also suggest you call me by my name, Kurama. Call me Uzumaki Naruto."

The two looked and grinned darkly at one another. They both spoke in unison. "Sure thing, partner."

_**This is going to be a very interesting development. **_Kurama thought, as Naruto's eyes turned back and fell into the water.

"**Just remember, Naruto. I'll need something from you in return for using my power freely."**

The boy lay sleeping in the water as Kurama closed his eyes.

* * *

><p>"Sakura, are you sure you're going to be okay?" Sasuke asked as he sat down next to her.<p>

Noticing he was right beside her, she felt more comforted, as he was taking a slight interest in her well-being.

"Y-yeah, I am. I think we should be worrying about Naruto, Sasuke-kun," she answered, looking at the blond.

"But it was a one-time thing, right?" Sasuke wondered looking at Naruto along with her.

"You don't…?" Sakura didn't finish her sentence, choosing to keep it between her Naruto.

"What is it?" He turned in her direction.

"Nothing, I was just going to say that we should rest, Sasuke-kun," Sakura lied as he fell on his back and closed his eyes.

Her eyes shifted between both of the boys as she went on her side and followed them into sleep.

* * *

><p>Kurama was hard to please, especially since he was being kept inside a twelve year old boy, and many others before him. All of which had been from the Uzumaki clan.<p>

_**Maybe this kid isn't so bad after all. He's going down a path I would like to see through. I guess I won this game, Kushina.**_

After referring to Naruto's past family member, he looked at Naruto. _**A mix of both of them. Strength of the father, the stamina of his mother combined with my chakra will make this kid an excellent host for me. **_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Originally, this was going to be something lighthearted, but then I remembered something. Why would I do that? Sure, it'll be a break, but I want to keep the tension up, so Kurama and Naruto did that and some of Jiraiya's plans.

Oh, to Ely, for sharing my opinion my last chapter. You should get an account just so you can talk to me in private, you know? If you do, just talk to me through it. There's another flaw in that idea. Why would Jiraiya teach Naruto the Rasengan if he knew Orochimaru could easily take Naruto? Especially since Orochimaru has something that can tempt Naruto, as you said, the attention of a village. Orochimaru can be very convincing when it comes to manipulation. He could manipulate Naruto into doing what he wants, if he really had to, that involves Naruto becoming really strong against Jiraiya, and I don't think Jiraiya would want to battle against the son of one of the greatest people he knew.

Getting an account is easy and free, you should get one, maybe write your version where Orochimaru takes Naruto, because I sure as hell won't. I'm stubborn so, even if I wanted to, my pride wouldn't allow it, you see? Besides, you would be a great author, I can tell. I just hate conversations like this to be public, so please? I just don't like my responses to be available who just reads these Author's Notes.


	8. Kabuto and the Ame Team

**A/N: **I love reviews, I really do. I'm not a mean-type of person when it comes to this. I'm only mean if you're acting like a major douche. I think that I should extend my chapters to be longer. I don't know. And yes, I let them keep their Heaven Scroll, why? Because I want to be nice to them, for once. These chapters are just being updated faster and faster, so keep your eye out for it.

* * *

><p>Naruto was getting ready to swim in the water to catch some fish when Sakura put her hand on his shoulder. "Naruto, you can't."<p>

He seemed confused. "Why, Sakura-chan?"

She leaned closer to his ear and whispered, "Sasuke-kun still thinks that your behavior was a one-time thing. If he sees your mark, he'll probably freak."

Naruto thought of her words and put them into mind as he sighed, zipping his shirt back up. "All right, I won't, but I'm only doing this because you asked, not because of Sasuke."

"We need food!" Naruto dove into the water, trying to catch a fish.

_He does have the right idea. _Sasuke looked at the splashing blond in the small river.

Naruto was moving quickly in the water finally catching a fish and rose up to throw it to Sasuke. The flailing fish was caught by the Uchiha who handled it firmly.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, did you see what I did?" Naruto grinned.

"Good work, Naruto, but we still need one more." Sakura looked back at the single dead fish on a small cloth.

Sasuke threw the fish to Sakura as he also had a kunai fly through the air to catch a fish that leaped out from the water. "Done, but we should still get some more."

"Oh, Sasuke-kun, can you use your fireball jutsu to make a fire for us?"

_Guess three is enough._

* * *

><p>The fish were roasting by the fire and the three were sitting around it.<p>

"It's been about four days since the exam began, and it started at approximately 2:30 in the afternoon, so we have about a day left."

"Yeah, and many teams have probably already passed and will advance toward the next exam. I don't want us to not participate in the next one. We're so close," Sakura said.

Naruto looked at them both. "Then what should we do?"

Sasuke looked at the Heaven Scroll in his hand. "This is getting really late in the game."

* * *

><p>A Konoha genin team sat near a tree as they examined their Earth Scroll. "The other scroll had 'Heaven' written on it and had white edges, right?"<p>

One of his teammates looked at him. "You're going to….?"

The boy holding the scroll smirked. "Yeah."

* * *

><p>"There might not be any more Earth Scrolls left." Sakura looked down.<p>

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, his voice muffled by the fish he was eating.

"Well, this is the fourth day, as you said before, and that means 80% of the test is over. There are 26 teams in total and 13 of each scroll…"

"Minus the Earth Scroll that Jiraiya ate," Naruto added.

"That marks down one team, making it 12 teams that will pass through this part." Sakura looked at the two boys.

Sasuke put the scroll down and got up. "I'm going to get us some water."

"But we have a river right here!" Naruto yelled.

"I mean fresh water, not salt water, dumbass." Sasuke walked off.

Naruto took the bag they had in his hands and spilled out the contents. "I know a way to get the Earth Scroll without getting into a fight, Sakura-chan."

Her eyebrows went up.

"I've got dozens of scrolls that were meant for taking notes, but they were left blank. We could use one of them to make a decoy, right?"

"Wait, Naruto. We have no idea what's written on the inside, so what's the point?" Sakura pointed out. "If an examiner looks on the inside and sees that it's fake, he'll probably disqualify us."

Putting his fingers on his chin he said, "Well, things like this usually have a password. And in these types, it's also necessary for 2 parts of it to be put together to make the answer. So we might need a password when we get to the tower!"

"We still won't know what's on the inside, it's useless," Sakura told him.

His head dropped. She looked at him with a sullen face. _Sorry I had to crush your idea, Naruto._

He looked up at her, and said, "If we knew what was inside the scroll, we could…"

She looked at him with a shocked face. "You can't be serious, you idiot."

"I'm going to open this Heaven Scroll!" Naruto rose the scroll up in his hand.

She snatched it from his hand and yelled, "Did you forget the damn rules? We weren't meant to open these until we reach the freakin' tower!"

"But we might be in trouble at this point." He defended.

* * *

><p>The leader of the genin team took the opening of the scroll in his hand and tugged. When he had pulled it to look at what was inside of it, his eyes got smaller as did his one of his teammates.<p>

A scream echoed in the forest, making the last of them turn. He looked at the blacked out boys. _Oh, shit. If we get caught, I'm screwed!_

Naruto trembled as he tried to pull it when a mysterious figure came from nowhere and stopped him. He said, "Did you forget the rules we were told?"

Sasuke looked as Kabuto was interacting with his teammates. He whispered to himself, "An enemy?"

He ran to join them.

Naruto and Sakura had ashamed looks on their faces at Kabuto scolded them, "That was close. You were told not to do that."

"S-sorry," they spoke in unison.

"Are you after our scroll?" Sasuke questioned.

Kabuto held his scrolls behind his back. "No, something just happened to my teammates on our way to the tower. So I have to meet them there." He turned away. "I'm off."

"No, I want you to fight me," Naruto said.

"Why would you want me to fight you?" Kabuto stopped.

"Naruto, don't be a fool. We just can't—" Sasuke was cut off.

"I want to get stronger, stronger than you, Sasuke," Naruto declared.

Kabuto looked back at the young blond and smiled at him. "Do you have another reason for this, Naruto-kun?"

"Yes, we need that scroll of yours, we're running out of damn time," he growled.

The Uchiha and Sakura looked at each other before shouting in unison, "You're out of your mind! There's no way we're going to let you fight!"

He looked at Kabuto and said, "We're losing time quickly and we need your Earth Scroll, _now._ I'm willing to fight you for it, no joke."

"What a noble boy, wanting his team to advance ahead," Kabuto said, fixing his glasses before he turned. "I'll give you a little hint: The smoke from the fire where you're burning the fish is making a scent that can be found by beasts and enemies. I'll show you the way, let's go."

The four of them started moving through the forest trees. Naruto looked at Kabuto as his hair was being blown. "Are there really enemies left here?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun, there are," Kabuto answered before looking ahead. "Do any of you want to know the best strategy for a test like this?"

Sakura glanced at him and nodded. He smiled lightly. "The goal to this test is the tower, no? Since there are only hours left to this test you can ambush teams who have scrolls."

"Great!" The pink haired girl said.

"And it's also a great way to get rid of other teams by taking as many scrolls as you can." Sasuke added.

* * *

><p>"<strong>Hey, Naruto. Do you understand what it's like to be intelligent?" <strong>Kurama asked.

The dark part of Naruto had regained control. "Yes, I do, Kurama, but the other part of me doesn't. I guess you can do something about that, right?"

Kurama's grin widened. **"I suppose I could, at a cost."**

"What is it?" Naruto stepped through the water, getting closer to the gate.

"**I want you to eventually use my full power." **

"Sounds simple, but you have a special catch, huh? I already know it." Naruto extended his clenched fist. "You want to be freed from this cage. Releasing your true power will allow you to be set free. I think that it's a great idea, too, Kurama."

The fox took out both of his arms, one that was balled, touching Naruto's fist. **"Good, because if you don't I'll make it so we both go down, Uzumaki Naruto."**

The two exchanged similar looks of smugness.

* * *

><p>"Other teams will also be there, expecting to ambush us as well, huh, Kabuto-san?" Naruto stated. "Although, the rush will be exciting. The more confident enemies will be the worst, I suppose."<p>

_Is this really Naruto? _Sasuke wondered before a smug grin covered his face. "You're scared of the enemies as well."

_Nighttime already? _The four stopped at a point where they had a clear view of the tower.

From behind them, they heard a strange sound. It didn't sound human, more like a beast. Naruto turned and saw a giant centipede that was crawling on the tree. "What the hell?"

"We should ignore things like that from now on." Kabuto fixed his glasses. "If we go through the forest quietly, we won't be detected as easily.

After minutes of walking, an exhausted Sakura was already sweating. "How long have we been walking?"

In front of them, the centipede from earlier was still on the tree.

"God damn it! We went in a circle!" Naruto yelled, pointing to it.

Sakura shifted her tired eyes and thought about the situation. _We're being watched. _

"Since we went in a circle, they should be watching us, right Kabuto-san?" He nodded at her question. "Then they should be ready to attack right about now."

"Great work, Sakura," Sasuke said as he looked around, his hand near his kunai holster.

From the objects around them, a male arose in many places. Naruto was confused. _Is this a Kage Bunshin? _

The same figure kept multiplying on the ground. Naruto formed the seal for his signature jutsu and whispered, "Perfect."

Many clones of Naruto appeared, attacking the enemies as Sasuke activated his Sharingan. He threw several shuriken as Sakura examined the fight with Kabuto.

The shuriken he threw missed the enemy but accidentally grazed Kabuto's shoulder. The one he targeted came toward the blond. Naruto turned from his dispersing enemies to see.

When the enemy made contact with the boy, he fell to the ground, unable to move. _What did he do to me?_

Naruto could feel himself thinking darker thoughts, ones that involved ripping apart each of his enemies, which made his seal grow. With his will power, he kept it from going too far as Sakura came to his aid. "Naruto, are you okay?"

Sasuke went after the opponent that affected Naruto. "What the hell did you do?"

Kabuto took out a kunai, his hand shaking. _So it works like that, too? But these aren't illusions, or regular ones. _

Sasuke hit the enemy, but looked at them with his crimson eyes glowing. _From what I've seen, shadow clones disappear when you hit them, but these aren't. Instead, these were…._

"Genjutsu!" Sasuke noticed. "That's what these are."

Sakura talked to him from afar. "But they hurt Kabuto-san!"

Kabuto panted, holding his wound. "The enemy shinobi is hiding and using his genjutsu forms to confuse us while he attacks us for real."

"Then find them!" Naruto called out.

Sasuke scowled and looked at each of his enemies and the surroundings behind them. "It isn't as simple as that. The enemy is mobile, so we can't just find them easily. But since they use these types of attacks, they have little to no skills in close combat and taijutsu."

"Then we should dodge their attacks and find them!" Naruto stated, prepared to summon more clones.

"Don't waste your chakra, you idiot!" Kabuto said.

Sasuke smirked and said, "He has amazing chakra reserves, Kabuto. You'd be surprised at what he can do."

"If we attack them all at the same time, while they recover, we'll be able to scout for them, since they won't be able to attack us." Naruto noted.

When he doubled each of his clones, they went on frenzy, attacking every one of the enemy's genjutsu.

The one who made the genjutsu just made more, sending Naruto and Sasuke to do more work, along with a newly entered Sakura.

One of the enemies knocked down Naruto, sending him flying on his back to his allies. The enemy team revealed themselves as genin from Amegakure. "Heh, is that all you Leaf genin can do?"

The four of them were panting, each showing a different expression. Naruto seemed smug, Sakura was surprised, Sasuke was tired, and Kabuto was worried.

"What, the little kids don't want to talk because their plan failed?" the leader of them taunted.

Naruto smirked. "Nope, it worked just fine."

The other three were revealed to be clones of Naruto as the real ones appeared behind the Ame team.

"How did you…? When did you..?" The leader stammered.

"We switched out when Naruto released his jutsu, the three of us hid. You genjutsu using bastards got a taste of your own medicine," Sakura taunted them.

"Naruto, would you do the honor of taking these guys out?" Sasuke offered.

"Hell yeah!" The blond yelled, as he ran over and hit all of the three at the same time.

Kabuto looked at the boy._ He has great chakra, stamina, and power because of the tailed beast within him_, _along with the seal Jiraiya-sama had bestowed upon him, he'll make a fine monster._

The Ame team rose up, and started to form hand seals, speaking in unison, "We'll show you our ninjutsu!"

**Ninp****ō**** Oboro Bunshin no Jutsu! **The enemy multiplied. Sasuke looked at them. "Not a normal clone jutsu, nor a shadow clone jutsu, but I'll be damned if you take this one!"

Sasuke rushed ahead, going past the blond. Because of exhaustion and pressure of making it to the next part, he became reckless. He tried to hit through an enemy, but went through him. "Damn it!"

He further used his Sharingan, trying to find the real one, but with no luck he couldn't. Trying to stall, eh used his Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu to attack most of the enemies.

A hand holding a double sided kunai rose up to an oblivious Uchiha. With great speed, Kabuto ran into the blade, keeping it from hitting Sasuke. But, much to his misfortune, another appeared in the shadow what appeared when he flew.

When it did, his glasses flew off, leaving a large slash on his face. Sasuke thanked Kabuto in his head as he hit the Ame shinobi. The shinobi hit the ground, Sasuke wiped his mouth and forehead. "You shouldn't create openings, especially when you're dealing with an Uchiha."

Kabuto sat up and scratched the back of his head. "Thanks for saving me, Sasuke-kun."

"No," Sasuke interrupted. "Thank you for giving me an opening."

Sakura went over to Naruto, worried about his seal as Sasuke went over to the Ame ninja and grabbed a scroll. The pink haired girl had a worried look on her face as she checked Naruto's neck.

"You have to keep it secret from Sasuke-kun, he'll get worried about it," Sakura said.

Naruto chuckled lightly. "Like you?"

Sasuke held up a scroll. "We got the Earth Scroll!"

The sun rose, creating a bright sky and light. Team Kakashi was relieved to have both of their scrolls.

"Kabuto, you're late," a genin said, probably from Kabuto's team.

"We just ran into some trouble along the way." Kabuto stepped forward to join them.

Sasuke added, "Thanks to your help, we got both of our scrolls. Thank you."

"No, it's fine. Besides, each of you shone in a different way," Kabuto complimented.

"Let's go through this door together," Sakura said as her teammates nodded.

The three of them pushed through the door. Naruto sighed in relief, "Man, I'm glad we're done with this."

"Yeah," the other two said in unison.

Kabuto and his team stopped halfway through the hall and took a different way. He stopped, taking out three cards that held information about Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto. "Here you go, Jiraiya-sama."

Jiraiya looked at Naruto's card with great interest. "Don't you think he's going to be a great pawn, Kabuto-kun?"

"Yes, Jiraiya-sama." Kabuto nodded.

"Good," Jiraiya said as he smiled warmly. "Now, remember the plan."

The sage patted Kabuto's head as he walked off.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I think this is my longest chapter out of them all, since this took up eight pages. I just feel so interested in this now, so I'll be updating very often. This is the second day in a row I've done this consecutively. I just want to keep all of you interested in it, like me. So, I hope you like it. Remember, if you did, click on the button right below these notes. Oh, and remember, anything in bold is either Kurama speaking, or if it's still in bold and italicized, it's his thoughts. Other things in bold are main jutsu to be noted, or actually canon.

Translations:

Ninpō Oboro Bunshin no Jutsu - Ninja Art: Haze Clone Technique

Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu - Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique.


	9. Preliminaries

**A/N: **Still going for five days in a row, so try to keep up with me, guys! I'm just really bored and excited at the moment!

* * *

><p>"Hey, what's this?" Naruto said as he found a large paper on the wall. "Another test?"<p>

"No, I don't think so," Sakura said as she examined it. "It looks like it's missing some words. Maybe that's what the scrolls are for."

Sasuke handed Sakura the Earth Scroll and Naruto the Heaven. "Open them."

The two looked at each other while their thumbs slipped under the open side and pulled.

When it was opened, it had a symbol on it, the kanji for fire and a kanji for person. Naruto squinted at it. "This is it?"

A large puff of smoke came from the Heaven Scroll. Sasuke looked on with a surprised expression. "Naruto, Sakura, let go of the scrolls. It's a summoning jutsu!"

Naruto immediately got rid of it, running a bit back as Sakura copied his actions. The smoke seemed to be growing taller and more human-like. A shadow was visible from it. It was no other than….

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto called.

The academy teacher smiled warmly at the three of them. "Nice to see you guys. How long has it been?"

The three were shocked when Sasuke spoke, "What's going on?"

"Well, the test was set up so we Chūnin are to meet up with the exam takers and I was lucky enough to meet you guys," Iruka explained.

"Meet us?" Sakura wondered as Iruka took out a watch to see the time and he said, "Phew, you guys made it just in time."

"All three of you passed," Iruka added. "I would like to buy you each a round of ramen, but—"

The three teammates tackled him, each saying, "We did it!"

"You're all really happy about this, and so energetic, as well." Iruka put them back on their asses.

"So, Iruka-sensei, what would have happened if we opened the scroll during the exam?" Sakura asked.

"Sharp and intelligent as always, Sakura." He lay out the open scroll, to its contents. "This was a test for you to do your mission correctly, and if you were to break the rules, the one who saw what was inside would be unconscious until the exams were over."

Naruto had his hands clasped, as if he were praying. _Thank you, Kabuto-san, thank you!_

"What's the writing on the wall mean, Iruka?" Sasuke wondered.

"Who the hell cares, we passed, didn't we?" Naruto interrupted.

Iruka chuckled and answered, "The writing is the Chūnin motto, written by Hokage-sama.

"'If you lack Heaven, seek wisdom, be prepared' means, if Naruto's weakness was his brain, then he has to gain knowledge to prepare for his next mission. It also states that if you lack earth, you have to run in the fields to seek stamina. That means, if Sakura's weakness was stamina, it's telling you to work harder.

Lastly, if you have both elements of Heaven and Earth, you can succeed. With your team setup, each of you has to work harder at something different." Iruka sighed.

"Then what was the purpose of the test?" Naruto interjected.

"The purpose of the 5 day survival test is to see if you have the basic abilities of being a Chūnin. A Chūnin, as you know, has the responsibility of leading a team and is the rank of a captain in the military. You three have successfully passed that part. For the third and final part of this exam, I want you all to take the motto to mind. That's all I have to say."

Naruto ran ahead, but was stopped by Iruka. "Don't push yourselves too hard. Naruto, you ….."

"I'm not a kid anymore, Iruka-sensei! With this forehead protector, I've officially grown up! Don't look down on me, and don't think I'm going to lose, either!" Naruto shouted his hand on his headband.

The teacher smiled as his former student ran past him, the remaining two following close behind. Sakura said something to Iruka on her way. "Naruto's right, he has grown up."

* * *

><p>The Hokage had a cigar in his mouth as he looked at Anko. "Is your mark all right?"<p>

"Yeah, for now I guess. Besides, I thought someone like you would be more worried about me other injury," Anko said, patting her stomach.

"I suppose so, but I think that your mark is more fatal to you."

"Anko-sama, Hokage-sama, are you both sure that we can capture Jiraiya? He is one of the legendary Sannin and has disposed of every one of our ANBU that has gone after him." A Chūnin said.

"What's after, anyway?" asked another.

"He said something about a blond kid, which I assumed to be Naruto. I mean, who else would he be talking about?" Anko revealed.

The Hokage looked down; the legendary child was now the new target Jiraiya wants. From years of knowing the sage, he was well aware that Jiraiya would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.

"Anko-sama, the test has concluded with 21 passing teams. We will have to do the preliminaries for the first time in 5 years," a Chūnin announced.

"Yes, get on with the exam. We will have to keep watch on what Jiraiya does."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Anko stood up.

* * *

><p>"Congratulations, all of you!" Anko said through a headpiece. "Out of 78 takers, 21 of you have passed. I was expecting it to be in the single digits, but you have exceeded my expectations."<p>

Gai looked smugly at Kakashi's team. "So your team passed. Very nice, Kakashi. Now, it's going to be about real battle ability."

Kakashi turned to Gai. "Did you say something, Gai?"

He turned away from the silver haired man. _Not bad, Kakashi. I expected nothing less from my rival._

Team Dosu, Team Gai, Team Asuma, Team Kurenai, Team Kakashi, Team Baki, and Kabuto's team had passed.

Team Dosu was staring intently at the Uchiha's team. Zaku looked at the blond. _I'll get you back eventually for my arm._

Baki was looking at his team. Baki focused on Gaara at first, realizing he had no visible wounds then Temari and Kankuro, who both had only small scratches.

_All of the rookies made it this far, it's almost unreal. _Naruto thought, moving his eyes from each of the teams. _I'm getting a strange feeling._

"Hokage-sama, explain to them the test," Anko said.

"Before I explain the test, I need to tell you something. It involves the true reason for this exam. Do any of you know why each participant gathers in a single hidden village instead of staying in their own respective village?

"'To promote friendship among the countries', 'To raise the ability of shinobi'? Both are incorrect. The real reason for it is to be a replacement for war among the allied countries.

"Before the countries became allies, they were enemies. The countries fought endlessly to see who would rule. In order to prevent senseless fighting, the stage that these countries choose for battle that is the origin of this exam."

"So why the hell does that have anything to do with becoming a Chūnin?" Naruto shouted.

The Hokage blew out a puff of smoke from his cigar. "It is a fact that this exam decides which shinobi have what it takes to be a Chūnin. On other hand, it has another side. One that shows how far a shinobi will go to risk their lives to protect their land's honor.

"The leaders and great individuals from each land will be watching. The leaders will also be there to witness your battles. Depending on how a village's representatives do their battles and get promoted, that land will receive more clients, however, if they are weak they will lose their clients.

"It can also send political message, like 'We have this much power'."

Kiba yelled, "Why do we have to risk our lives in combat?"

"The strength of a country is the strength of the village and to strength of the village is the strength of a shinobi. And a shinobi's true strength is born through life-risking battles.

"This exam is a place to see each county's strength and to show off your own personal strength as well. It only has meaning because lives are at risk in the battles. Those who have come before you have fought in this exam for this dream that is meaningful."

"But then why did you say stuff about it being for friendship, Hokage-sama?" Tenten cut him off.

_These kids' questions are really annoying me. _The Hokage cleared his throat. "I said this in the beginning; I don't want you to confuse the purpose of these exams. By losing lives and establishing balance. This is the shape friendship takes in the world we live in now. Before we begin the third test, I will tell you one more thing. This is not just a simple test ….This is a life-risking battle for survival. With your dreams and your country's honor on the line as well."

"Hurry up and tell us more about the life-risking details," Gaara said.

"Yes, I'll explain that now but…" he stopped, thinking in his mind, _If you little kids would stop interrupting me, this talk would've already been over._

"Actually, Hokage-sama, as referee, will you please allow me, Gekkō Hayate," a man coughed.

"By all means," the Sandaime said.

"Hello everybody, I'm Hayate," he said. "Before the third test, I'd like you all to do something."

Naruto examined Hayate with great interest. _Is he sick or something, he sure sounds like it?_

"It's a preliminary for the third test. Whoever passes advances to the finals," Hayate told them.

"Preliminary, what do you mean?" Shikamaru asked loudly.

"I don't understand either, Hayate-san. Why aren't the people here allowed participating in the main thing?" Sakura added.

"Ummm, this year's test might have been too easy, seeing as how so many people made it here," He coughed. "According to the rules, since there are too many people, we need a preliminary to reduce the number of you down. As Hokage-sama stated, there's going to be many important people there, and too many fights will be too much for a limited amount of time.

"Those who feel like quitting may come up now, since we'll be starting soon, come up."

"What? Right now?" Kiba asked.

Kabuto smiled, remembering his plan. He rose up his hand and said, "I'm going to quit."

Sasuke looked in disbelief. "Kabuto?"

Hayate took out a clipboard, supposedly with the names of the takers. "You're Yakushi Kabuto-kun from Konoha. You may leave now.

"Does anyone else want to leave now? Oh, I forgot to tell you all, this is individual battling, no longer team-based. You may raise your hand on your own judgment."

"Kabuto-san, why are you quitting?" Naruto asked.

"I'm a bit beat up from the last test. Besides, my ear still hurts from when the Sound Team attacked during the first test." Kabuto looked at Naruto.

Anko took a closer look at Kabuto. "I remember him, he quit last time and six times before that."

"What the hell kind of a record is that?" Hiruzen wondered.

"Well, he didn't stand out much during his time at the academy, had average grades, and graduated on his third try at it. He also completed a total of 16 missions, two C-rank and 14 D-rank. Nothing really special about him." Anko went over his data.

"What about before the academy?"

"Before he entered the academy?" She flipped through the papers and stopped at a particularly interesting one. "Well, do you remember the boy brought back from the battle at Bellflower Pass?"

"Yes, I remember a Jōnin member of a med team brought a child back, the only survivor. He's that boy, isn't he?"

She nodded.

Jiraiya now had a new temporary form. It made him lose the red marks on his face, no warts, retaining his white hair and having an Otogakure forehead protector.

A disguised Jiraiya and Kabuto exchanged glances as he fixed his glasses and quickly shifted his eyes to see Team Kakashi. _Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun, Sakura-san, it would have been fun to play with you longer, but I guess we'll have to wait on that._

"Don't take any selfish actions. Remember this is for Jiraiya-sama," Yoroi said to his teammate.

"I know, I know," he reassured.

Jiraiya kept his focus on Kabuto. _Trying your best to keep down your boiling blood as you have to live a lie as a spy. Such a great apprentice._

"I'll let you take over, Yoroi-kun. You great abilities to do it." Kabuto smiled. "This is also your chance to prove you're stronger than I am, since I have surpassed you."

"Don't get too cocky just because you're Jiraiya-sama's favorite," Yoroi said.

"Understood, senpai." Kabuto started to walk away.

Team Kakashi watched as he waved to them and kept walking. As he walked away, he smirked. _I'll save the fun for next time, Naruto-kun. You, too, Sasuke-kun, Sakura-san._

Naruto looked at Yoroi and felt a wave of pain coming from the seal. He grabbed onto it and Sakura looked at him. "Naruto, are you alright?"

"I think I will, Sakura-chan. So we're going to keep this from Sasuke?" He asked, feeling relaxed as Kurama took the pain and absorbed it as a power source.

Hayate looked expectantly into the crowd of people. "No more retiring?"

Seeing that the pain came back and was doubled Naruto winced. Sasuke looked at the blond. "You know, if you're hurt, you should quit."

"No," Naruto said plainly.

Sakura started to tear up. "Naruto, you should quit! I don't care if you think you can fight, you should just be safe!"

"S-Sakura-chan, I can't," Naruto tried to calm her down.

"I'll tell the proctor and the sensei's about it, so just—" She was cut off as Sasuke grabbed her wrist and looked at her in the eyes.

"If Naruto says he feels fine, we should believe him," he said.

Sakura knew that Sasuke felt a change of heart and wanted, selfishly, to fight the Uzumaki. She nodded to him. She knew that she would come to regret it later. Sasuke wanted to convince her more thoroughly, stating, "Naruto wants to be the noticed for his abilities, so why should we try to stop him?"

"Yes, Sasuke-kun." She looked down.

"And you." Sasuke turned to Naruto. "What's up with making Sakura worry? I thought you liked her."

Naruto grew red. "No I don't, Sasuke! Stop acting like you know my feelings toward her!"

Anko went over to Hiruzen. "I think we should pull him out of the exam now."

"Well, there might be a flaw in that," Kakashi started. "He's not the type to give up so easily. Especially because he's an Uzumaki."

"Don't be an idiot! We have to pull him out, now! By releasing as much chakra as him, he'll go wild and the forbidden will destroy his body!" Anko yelled.

"The Kage Bunshin?" Kakashi scratched his head.

"Stop playing with me! You know what I mean!"

The Hokage spoke to the two. "It's amazing he's still standing. By now, he should be dead. Jiraiya is on my mind. I want to see why he chose this boy."

"H-Hokage-sama!" Anko protested.

"But if the cursed seal starts to go wild, jump in and take him out of the arena. Understood?"

Ibiki stood to his right. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Now, let's begin the preliminaries. This preliminary will be one-on-one fighting. It'll be just like a real life fight. Since we now have 20 participants, we'll conduct 10 randomly selected matches. The winners will advance to the next part.

"There are no rules in the fight, only to keep going until one is unable to battle, meaning knocked out, incapable, or dead. If you don't want to die then acknowledge your defeat before that point. Since we don't want a mass overload of corpses, I'll jump in to stop it if I see an expected death, okay?"

Anko spoke into her earpiece. "Open it."

Hayate said, "Is this…This is an electronic board that will randomly choose two names and those two will be opponents. Is that clear? Now, time for the first matchup."

The board flashed random names repeatedly between a versus sign. Everybody in the room kept their eyes on it until it stopped with two names lit in green.

Hayate read aloud the names, "The first matchup, Uchiha Sasuke versus Akado Yoroi."

Yoroi fixed his dark sunglasses as he looked at Sasuke. The Uchiha stared at his enemy.

Hayate brought the two males to the center. "Are you both ready to participate?"

"Yes," they said in unison.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Ninth chapter, done. You know, since I'm still starting to adapt to having Sasuke as a normal guy, I still want to keep the battles the same, but have it done my own way. I used this chapter for an explanation of the Chūnin Exams because it's important to know some of the original story. I just made the dialogue a bit different.

In the canon, Hayate's birthday is the same as mine, November 2nd, but I don't like how he died, I kinda liked him. Remember, I'm trying to made consecutive days because, in almost any long chapter story, the beginning is updated quickly then it gets slower.

And I have a story for you guys to check out if you like the idea of a cool Naruto. Search The Sealed Kunai by Kenchi618, it's pretty good!


	10. Trump Cards

**A/N: **I know I'm really going fast with this, but I just feel like I should. I also think that one of my main problems has been that I didn't note that this was non-yaoi. Maybe, I don't know. At least, I still have Sasuke's Sharingan abilities to work with. Now, Sasuke vs. Yoroi, it's pretty short since I don't have enough knowledge from the manga to see Yoroi's full abilities.

* * *

><p>Sasuke and Yoroi glared at each other. The Uchiha had seriousness in his dark eyes.<p>

Sakura looked on. _It's going to be a tough match for Sasuke-kun; I don't think he can win so easily. _

_Sasuke, you better not lose because I want to fight you, too! _Naruto thought.

Yoroi looked at his next opponent. _I guess I'll have some fun with you, Uchiha. Although, I would've enjoyed fighting the kid with the seal._

Hayate said, "Now, we have our two fighters. Will everyone except them move up to the upper level?"

The others moved up, each of them glancing an eye to the Uchiha.

Kakashi stepped along to Naruto, who was calling his name. As he passed Sasuke, he spoke, "You might need to use your Sharingan, this time. This guy seems pretty tough."

The raven haired boy grunted at that. Maybe Kakashi had the right idea. Kakashi kept going forward. "You should get this match over with as quickly you can. Especially since you also want to see Naruto fight. Although, I might not want to do that. He may be your rival, but don't try to outdo yourself just prove something."

_I'm weaker than normal right now; I think I have to use my Sharingan this time. _Sasuke's eyes shifted to the blond boy on the upper level. _This Yoroi seems to have a strange air around him. I better not mess this up._

Jiraiya looked at the Uchiha. _Hm, Yoroi has this kid beat. No matter how legendary this clan is, Yoroi has already won before this match even started._

Hayate looked at both of them. "All right, the both of you may begin the match now."

Yoroi formed the tiger seal as Sasuke jumped back, a smug grin on his face. The older male's hand glowed blue as his sunglasses had a shine quickly pass over it. "You have no chance, kid."

Sasuke took out several kunai and shuriken and threw them at his enemy. He was left a sitting duck as Yoroi dodged them with ease. In order to try to take down his opponent, Sasuke took out a kunai and rushed over to him. He felt a sharp pain from the exhaustion and the wound he inflicted on himself when he fought against Jiraiya.

Yoroi smirked and knocked him down with a kick. As he was about to force a hit on him, Sasuke pushed him down by pushing his legs. In a swift movement, Sasuke grabbed Yoroi's arm and forced him down with his legs on his chest.

Yoroi grabbed the front of Sasuke's shirt and his hand had the blue chakra back on it. Sasuke winced as he felt his power go down. _What's going on?_

The Uchiha let go of his forearm as Yoroi hit his jaw. With such power, Sasuke was pushed farther, his back making friction with the ground.

In another single movement, Yoroi landed another punch on the boy. When Sasuke propped himself on his elbows, the other male grabbed his head which still had the same blue chakra, stealing his strength. In a strained voice, Sasuke said, "What is this?"

His teammates looked in horror as Sasuke was forced on the ground, his chakra being drained as Yoroi looked without regret.

Jiraiya looked in amusement._ You've finally noticed, Sasuke-kun. Yoroi's special ability to steal chakra with the touch of his palm seems like too much for you. I'd hoped that he'd fight Naruto, but you'll do._

"Are you giving up?" Yoroi taunted.

"Like hell I will," Sasuke groaned as he sent a kick to Yoroi's chest, making him fly away.

Kneeling, Sasuke wiped his mouth. _This guy will most likely use close combat, so I should my Sharingan now, before it's too late._

He closed his eyes, making Yoroi wonder what he was doing. When opened them, his eyes burned crimson, staring at Yoroi with two tomoe.

"Uchiha Sasuke. You can activate the Sharingan?" Gaara wondered, keeping his attention on the battle before him.

When Yoroi rushed over to Sasuke, the Uchiha went on his back and elbows, kicking Yoroi in the jaw again, sending him upward.

Lee looked surprised. "That's my….!"

Yoroi was flying in the air, his back to the ground as Sasuke came behind him. "From here, this is my own original move."

Sasuke put two fingers to the small of Yoroi's back and said, "Take this!"

The amount of strain on his body because of his weakened state and use of Sharingan, which normally had no effect on him, but he lost so much chakra it hurt.

Through that pain, he pushed up Yoroi and swung his left leg to kick him. The enemy blocked it with his forearm and smirked. "Not enough, Uchiha."

Sasuke brought back his leg and pulled his fist back, prepared to hit.

Kakashi examined the fight and said, "Not enough."

Using the back of his left fist, he hit Yoroi down and followed that with a punch to the chest. Just when Yoroi thought that the assault was over, Sasuke yelled, "It's not over, yet!"

He brought his leg up and threw Yoroi to the ground with amazing strength. He made a quick turn and followed that with a powerful hit to the chest. Although he was able to knock his enemy down, Sasuke was flown back on his front as Yoroi remained, unmoving.

Hayate went over to Yoroi and felt his forehead. After he was done with that, he stood between the two males. "I'm officially stopping this fight! Uchiha Sasuke has taken down Akado Yoroi, making him the winner of this preliminary!"

Sasuke went on his back and stared at the ceiling before Kakashi came into the field. He propped himself onto his elbows as he closed his eyes to release his Sharingan. Kakashi looked at him. "Sasuke, if you knew your chakra was low, you shouldn't have used the Sharingan, even if I suggested it to you."

"I don't care. I won, doesn't that mean anything?" Sasuke wondered.

"Somewhat, but next fight, it does matter how you win, not if," Kakashi told him.

"Sasuke put some strain on himself, didn't he, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Y-yeah, he did. It's mainly because he wants to fight you, Naruto," she answered him. "I hope you two don't."

"What? Why?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Because if you two fight, it may lead to death, won't it? You guys normally want to fight and it might be too competitive and it could kill one of you." She looked down.

_Then I should hold back if I fight him. For now, I should try to act normally. _

"That's so lame, Sasuke! Even I could beat someone without getting my ass kicked around!" Naruto shouted.

Sasuke smiled. "Damn moron."

He shifted his eyes toward Lee. _Thanks, Lee. If it wasn't for you and the technique you used before, I wouldn't have won._

Gai looked at the young Uchiha. _The mastery of the super taijutsu, the Lotus, it cannot be mastered just by the use of the Sharingan. Sasuke-kun reminds me so much of you, Kakashi. What a kid, using the Sharingan to beat an enemy. So much youth!_

Anko looked at Naruto and Sasuke with concern. She whispered to herself, "Those two, it's a good thing they didn't fight, but what about the finals?"

Zaku, Dosu, and Kin looked smugly at the field. Zaku spoke up, "What an interesting guy."

A medical ninja walked onto the field as his subordinates put Yoroi on the stretcher. "Uchiha Sasuke, you should go with us to heal up."

"No, it's not necessary. He can watch the rest of the fights, it's not like it's going to kill him." Kakashi smiled.

Sasuke stood up, stumbling his way back to his teammates as the board started to flash names yet again.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura rushed down and helped him walk up by putting her hand on his back and shoulder, guiding him.

The board stopped on two names. Hayate said, "Aburame Shino versus Abumi Zaku. Will the two fighters step onto the field?"

Shino took his time, Zaku didn't waste his. Under his breath, he wondered, "Who is this loser?"

The two stared intensely at each other as Hayate announced, "Umm, so are you two ready to begin the match?"

They both nodded as he stepped away. Shino looked at Zaku. "You should forfeit, fighting with one arm isn't a fair."

Zaku smirked and said loudly, "One arm is enough to beat you!"

Zaku lunged himself and swung with his left arm. Shino effortlessly blocked it. "Like I said: You can't beat me with only one arm."

"Shut the hell up, you bastard!" Zaku shouted, as a hole in his hand released a gas.

That gas turned into an explosion which made a large blast of smoke happen. From it, Zaku remained fine as Shino was blown back, his cheek to the floor. His teammates looked at him with worried expressions.

"Hey, get up, loser!" Zaku demanded.

Shino slowly rose up as he panted. A scar was on his cheek, and from it came bugs that shocked Zaku. _What the hell is this guy? Bugs in his body?_

Shino extended his index finger which had a bug on it. "These are destruction bugs; they attack their prey in numbers and eat up chakra. Like I said, you can't beat me, and this is not a fair fight.

"If you don't want to be attacked, give up….it's your best option at this point. If you choose not to, and attack me with your left arm, my bugs will attack you from behind."

Zaku looked behind his back and saw the bugs. _Maybe if I attack these –_

"If you attack my bugs, you'll be open to an attack, either way, I have you. It's my trump card, where's yours?" Shino interjected his thoughts.

Zaku remembered why he was here. It's for Jiraiya, who gave him the chance.

"_If you come along with me, I promise you, you'll get stronger. Although, it's only if you fight for me. Prove to me that you are worthy of my faith." _Jiraiya's words rang in his head.

_I can't…continue to fail, damn it! _Zaku took his arm out of his cast and extended both of his arms.

"You should always have a trump card, right?" Zaku yelled. "Here is mine!"

Dosu chuckled and said to Kin, "He pretended his right arm was useless, huh?"

Kiba looked at this battle, shocked at what he'd seen. "He can use his right arm?"

One of his arms faced toward the bugs, the other toward Shino. "Take this!"

In a second, his forearms blew off. They fell on the ground as everybody watched in horror. Kiba shouted, "What the hell just happened?"

Bugs started to crawl out from the holes on Zaku's arms. Shino appeared behind Zaku. "When I told you to give up earlier, I ordered them to close up the holes on your hands. This is my true trump card. You knew had a chance."

Shino moved to face Zaku and punched his jaw.

Hayate went over to the unconscious Zaku and said, "It's over. The winner: Aburame Shino!"

Lee looked over at his Hyūga teammate. "What is he?"

He activated his Byakugan to see inside of Shino's body. "I understand summoning bugs, but the bugs are actually in his body."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Those two fights were pretty short, for me. Even in the manga, they weren't any more than two or three chapters. Now, I'd like to dedicate this small section to replying to reviews. So here we go:

**To Vordax0110, who wrote:**

**| Chapter 7 - Haha! Awesome. Lol!**  
><strong>I just thought, reading this, Naruto spends about half of the anime in bed or sleeping. :D |<strong>

Well, he did seem like the type to request sleeping. I also did have that in mind.

And:

**|Chapter 8 – The battle was really great!**  
><strong>And who'd have guessed Sakura (Of all people.)to be worried about Naruto! |<strong>

Thanks for the compliment about the battle! About Sakura being worried about Naruto, who wouldn't be if you knew it was a deadly thing. No matter how annoying she thinks he is, she would still be worried.

**|Chapter 9 - Awesome chapter!**  
><strong>I can understand, having Sasuke 'normal' would be hart write seen as it's not how you expect him to be after so long.:S<strong>  
><strong>Update soon!|<strong>

Yeah, I know. He still has the power of the Uchiha clan and has access to its Kekkei Genkai. He'd still be pretty deadly.

**|To drasonz, who wrote: in the original naruto declared himself going to be the future orange hokage , for this au maybe other people is going to call sasuke the dragon ninja or the black dragon etc.. just a thought|**

Well, Naruto did get his dream of being the Orange Hokage because of his mom and dad, who were the Yellow Flash and the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero. I will keep that in mind and think about a title.

**|To iwish329, who wrote: you should take sasuke off as one of the listed characters almost missed this story because i thought it was narusasu|**

I just changed the summary, hopefully people weren't just reading because they thought it was yaoi. I don't write that kind of stuff. I'd be more likely to pair up Sai and Hinata together than write yaoi. Then again, I did write one kinda like that….

That's it for these responses. Won't happen every chapter, because that would take too long.


	11. Blooming Flowers

**A/N: **Yes, okay, as I'm writing this, I have a total of 17 reviews. That's good enough for me, how about you? Now, Phase 11: Blooming Flowers!

* * *

><p>Lee looked in surprise. "Bugs inside of his body?"<p>

Gai stared at Shino. "He must be a part of the Aburame clan, a clan known for using bugs."

"Yes, I've heard that the Aburame clan members give their bodies to the insects as a nest at birth. With that, they freely control insects in battle as their main fighting technique. They establish a contract with the bugs by letting them eat their chakra," Neji added.

"The power of that clan…" Lee said. "Is in him now."

Dosu looked at Zaku along with Kin. "So sad, Zaku."

Kin looked at her teammate. "Why did his arms get blown off?"

"Well, Kin, it works like this: That Shino guy had his bugs go into Zaku's air canal and clog it up. When he tried to use his Zankūha, with those bugs still inside, the air had nowhere to go since there was no opening….Zaku's arm blew right off!" Dosu explained to her.

_I only knew you when we started this mission, but I will get them back for you, Zaku! _Dosu thought.

_Wow, I was getting nervous. _Kurenai sighed.

Shino walked back to his teammates after being declared the winner of the match. When he got back, Hinata greeted and congratulated him while Kiba was jealous that the bug-guy would always big after winning anything.

Naruto noticed Shino and said, "When did that guy get so strong?"

Sasuke coughed, "Well, we didn't know his fighting ability. So he could have had a mega jutsu for all we knew."

Sakura added, "Yeah that is true. Looks can be deceiving."

"Go onto the next match. Start the board," Hayate ordered.

The names once again flashed the names and stopped on two that lit up in green. "Next match: Tsurugi Misumi versus Kankurō!"

The Suna shinobi smirked. "Finally, you better watch my battle, Tem."

His sister rolled her dark green eyes as he walked down.

Naruto looked angrily as the puppet-user walking onto the field. _It's that guy from before!_

Misumi stood in front of Kankurō, seriousness in his eyes. Kankurō took the puppet off of his back and leaned it beside him. "I'll end this match quickly."

"No, I think I will!" Misumi threw a shuriken and tried to hit the Sand ninja, but was blocked by Kankurō grabbing his arm.

To Kankurō's dismay, Misumi's arm twisted as if it had no bones in it. Within a second, he was wrapped up by his opponent.

Misumi had his left arm constricting Kankurō's throat.

"My body has been altered by many experiments, so I can fit through any space. With that, I can squeeze you until all of the bones in your body shatter to bits. I'll give you an ultimatum: Give up, or I'll crush you right here," Misumi warned.

"I don't care what types of shinobi tools you use, but try anything funny and I'll break your neck," Misumi added.

Kankurō smirked. "You're the one that's gonna die here."

Everybody had a similar reaction, well except for two, to the sound of his neck breaking. Naruto saw the blank expressions of his siblings, and yelled," What the hell? Your brother's neck just snapped! Don't you care?"

The shinobi in the room saw Kankurō's body go limp and heard Misumi say, "Sorry I had to kill you."

Kankurō's head turned, although it looked nothing like him. He now had no pupils and a robot-like eye on the left side of his face. He was smiling from ear to ear. "Is it my turn, now?"

The Leaf genin was shocked by Kankurō's arm turning puppet-like and constricting around him. He wondered what it was until Kankurō's whole body change. It was replaced by a puppet.

From the wrapping of the puppet came Kankurō, who had chakra strings from his fingertips. Misumi looked in utter confusion. _He's a puppeteer?_

"If I shatter _your _bones, you'll be even softer, right?" Kankurō chuckled. "Don't you worry; I'll go easy on your throat."

He clenched his fist, signaling his puppet to tightly squeeze Misumi. Hayate coughed. _Good thing he came out when he did, or I would've passed Misumi._

Naruto looked curiously at Kankurō and his puppet. "Hey, isn't that 2 on 1?"

"No, not really, Naruto," Sasuke sighed. "That's Puppet no Jutsu, meaning it's a weapon, which is an equivalent of a kunai or a shuriken. It's just his weapon."

"That's really weird, I think everyone from other villages is a bit crazy, too," Naruto said.

"Don't say that, if there are any others stronger than him and they hear us, they could kill us!" Sakura warned.

"Uh, Sakura-chan…." Naruto pointed to the electronic board.

She turned, what was it? Her eyes widened.

Hayate announced. "Next match, Haruno Sakura versus Yamanaka Ino!"

The two girls walked onto the field, glaring at each other the whole time. Ino sighed, "Never thought I'd have to fight you."

In a quick movement, Sakura whipped off her headband, surprising Ino.

Asuma shared a similar reaction as his student's. _I know Ino's an exception female kunoichi, but can she beat Sakura?_

Shikamaru looked closely. "Those two? I can't even stand them when they look at each other. This is going to get annoying really fast."

Chōji yawned. "Is Ino going to be all right?"

* * *

><p>"Now, now, children," the academy teacher said. "Female ninja must not only be powerful in ninjutsu, but they also must possess a strong knowledge of the world around them. If you cannot sneak into any place around the world and pass off as a normal woman, you cannot be a spy."<p>

She fixed her glasses. "Now, today's lesson will be on flower arrangement. Go off and pick some flowers!"

"Yes!" the students said in unison.

Ino started to walk when she heard someone call her name. "Ino-chan, wait up!"

She turned to see Sakura fall down. Ino sighed, "Such a clumsy girl."

"So, Ino-chan, can you do this? I'm pretty bad," Sakura asked nervously.

"What do you mean? You're named after a type of flower!" Ino said. "Alright, I'll tell you the trick.

"You take a main flower, and find one to compliment it. You can't have flowers that clash. For example, look…."

Ino pointed to a flower. "If you have 'Cosmos' as your main flower, then the 'Fujibakama' as your extra. Sakura is the best flower in the spring; a Cosmos is the best in autumn. When you have an autumn flower, other autumn flowers are the best for it. Do you see?"

Sakura nodded as Ino put a flower to her platinum blonde hair. "Do I look good with the Cosmos?"

Sakura thought about what to say. "Y-yeah."

"Hey, what was with that pause?"

Someone tapped Sakura on the shoulder. It was Ami, who scoffed, "Heh, trying to make yourself look better, Ms. Forehead? Who do you think you are?"

Sakura was frightened as Ami got closer. Quickly, her mouth was filled with flowers.

Her followers yelled, "Ami-chan!"

"Sorry, Ami-chan, I guess I must have mistaken your big mouth as a vase," Ino taunted.

Ami spit them out, shouting, "Bibo!"

Ino held one of the flowers in her hand. "You better spit those out quickly, it's pretty poisonous."

The girls ran off, screaming," Sensei!"

Sakura watched as Ino stuck her tongue out at them. _Ino-chan's incredible. She popular, fashionable, cute, and her throwing ability is great, too. Her ninjutsu is also great. Compared to her, all I am is…._

Ino saw the pink-haired girl looking down. Sakura said in a low voice, "If Ino-chan is Cosmos, then I'm Fujibakama."

Ino smiled smugly. "If you ask me, you're not a flower just yet. You're more like a bud."

Sakura was surprised at what her friend said and smiled nervously. "Y-yeah."

* * *

><p>"I have no intention of fighting with you over Sasuke-kun!" Sakura claimed.<p>

Sasuke looked from above and smirked. _Well, maybe she could get rid of one pest for me._

"You and Sasuke-kun don't match anyway! I'm also completely stronger than you'll ever be, Ino-buta-chan. Right now, I don't even need to be worried about how this match will turn out." Sakura added to her own statement.

Ino was offended. She yelled, "Who the hell do you think you're talking to, Sakura? Don't get so overconfident, Crybaby!"

Sasuke and Naruto looked at the fight nervously. They thought similarly. _Right now, Ino's looking pretty scary. Especially her eyes._

Naruto was even frightened to look into Ino's green eyes at this point. Kakashi looked expressionless as he said, "Sakura isn't the type to brag about her skill or strength, but she wants Ino to take this fight seriously and not show her mercy."

_Just a bud, huh?_

"Hey, Ino-chan." Sakura held onto her legs. "Why did you give me this ribbon?"

Ino looked at the red ribbon on Sakura's head. "I just thought it would be a waste to let you end as a bud. Not being able to bloom or grow into a full flower. A flower has no meaning if it doesn't bloom. Especially, if it would grow into a more beautiful flower than a Cosmos."

Sakura's eyes started to tear up. _Thank you so much, Ino-chan!_

"Sakura, what's wrong?"

"Uh, I got some sand in my eye when I fell earlier."

_Ino, I want this to be an all-out fight. Since you told me that, I aspired to be just like you and bloom. You were my goal, and thanks to that, I got here. Unless I really surpass you, it's meaningless._

"Hey, why are they being so serious?" Naruto wondered.

"Even throughout our relation, you still don't understand," Sasuke noticed. "Rivalries are very strange."

_I'm on the same team as Sasuke-kun. _Sakura's words went through Ino's mind.

* * *

><p>"I won't lose to you, Ino," Sakura swore.<p>

"Me too, Sakura. I won't lose to you either," Ino answered.

The pink-haired girl took out a red ribbon and held it out to Ino. Ino was surprised. "Ribbon?"

"I'm returning it to you."

"That's the ribbon I gave you when we were little." Ino remembered. "But forehead protectors are supposed to go on your forehead…"

"I'm not going to be that little girl who always followed you around." Sakura glared. "The time I put it on my forehead, will be the time I won't lose to you…."

* * *

><p>"Good idea, I agree," Ino said, taking back the ribbon.<p>

With that running in both of their minds, they tied their headbands on their foreheads. The two girls ran to each other, Sakura activating the Bunshin no Jutsu.

"Trying to beat me with a textbook jutsu like that? This isn't the academy!" Ino yelled.

_By looking closely, I can find out which one is the real one. _The blonde thought.

Sakura looked smug as she focused the chakra to her feet and leaped off of the ground. During her time in the air, she hit Ino, making her fly back.

"Get serious, Ino! I'm not the Crybaby Sakura you knew, so start taking me seriously!" Sakura demanded.

Ino wiped her mouth and smirked. "All right, just because you asked. Now, here I come!"

"Her chakra control is amazing. She's even above you and Sasuke in that department." Kakashi looked at Naruto.

The girls ran to each other yet again, trying to hit each other, but catching each other's fists. They glared at each other with anger and retreated.

Their movements matched both throwing shuriken at the same time and deflecting each other. Sakura and Ino both threw back their fists and ran toward each other again. They focused their most powerful strength on it and swung.

They both hit each other's cheeks, blood trickling from their mouths. With that much force from those hits, they got thrown back.

Hayate looked at his stopwatch. _It's been 10 minutes. How long are they going to last?_

Ino panted heavily, looking Sakura in the eye. "There's no way you could ever be on the same level as me!"

"Of course I can! How can I lose to a girl who only cares about her hair and looking pretty 24/7?" Sakura retorted.  
>Ino clutched the kunai in her hand. "Stop disrespecting me!"<p>

Shikamaru shook his head. "Letting trash talk effect you, I don't understand her."

Ino took the kunai to her pony tail and cut it off. She held it in her hand as the others looked at her in shock.

Chōji looked surprised. "Guys, I think she's finally snapped."

"I don't need this!" Ino threw her hair on the ground and formed a hand seal. "I'm going to make you say 'Give up' even if it's the last thing I do!"

She quickly changed the seal to the custom Yamanaka one.

Sakura scoffed, "Even in your desperation, it won't work."

"Let's see about that."

"Ninpō Shintenshin no Jutsu, a jutsu that allows you to project your spiritual energy towards another person and temporarily take over their body. But it's not perfect. It takes a long amount of time to project it, so someone can easily take you down beforehand.

"If you miss your target, it'll take a few minutes for you to get back to your body, meaning it's free to physical attacks."

"Like I said, we'll have to see!"

Shikamaru gripped the railing. _That move's only good when mixed with my Kagemane jutsu. What the hell is she thinking?_

Ino kept the seal as Sakura ran to her right with Shikamaru yelling, "You idiot! Don't do that!"

Sakura stopped and her head dropped down, as did Ino's.

Everybody looked in anticipation to see if Ino succeeded. Sakura smirked and said, "Heh, too bad, Ino."

"Nope, you fell for it," Ino answered, raising her head as the hair on the ground wrapped around Sakura's ankles.

"This is…" Sakura looked at her feet.

Ino had her hands on her hair as she smirked. "I finally got you.

"That was all an act to lure you into this. Using my hair and chakra, I caught you in the ropes." She went up to her feet, forming the Yamanaka seal again. "Now, I'll have a 100% chance of catching your mind!"

Sakura couldn't move her feet and was an easy target for Ino to catch in her jutsu. **Shintenshin no Jutsu!**

Ino's body fell again as Sakura said, "Too bad, Sakura."

Sakura's body had been taken over by the blonde.

"Why isn't Sakura-san moving? She has a chance to attack Ino," Lee said.

Kakashi turned to his rival's student. "Sakura's mind has now been overtaken by Ino."

Ino smirked in Sakura's body and raised her hand, catching the attention of Hayate. "I, Haruno Sakura, would like to…"

"Hey, Sakura, you can't just let her take over. If you do, you're not a real shinobi!" Sasuke tried to get Sakura back.

_Sasuke-kun's right. I can't just let myself lose here. _Sakura invaded Ino's thoughts. She clutched her head. When a host with a strong mind fought back, it was painful.

Hayate looked at the struggling girl. "What is it? Do you want to forfeit?"

"Like hell I'll forfeit!" Sakura shouted, her fist clenched.

Her inner personality conflicting with Ino. Inner Sakura grew bigger, towering over Ino. Ino stumbled backwards and said, "My jutsu failed?"

Inner Sakura grabbed Ino in her hands and yelled, "If you don't get out of my mind, I swear to Kami I'll kill you!"

"Oh shit, I guess I have to." Ino released Sakura, going back into her own body.

Asuma looked shocked. _Ino's jutsu failed to take over Sakura? Maybe Sakura's mind is much more powerful than an average person's._

"What the hell do you have, two minds?" Ino panted.

"Women have to be tough to survive, especially when they're shinobi," Sakura replied.

Sasuke examined Sakura. _In many ways, she's basically the as Naruto and me. I guess we each can't accept defeat easily._

The two ran at each other, fists thrown back, both low on chakra. Sakura and Ino glared at each other as images of their childhood together ran through their minds.

With more force than their last hit, they knocked each other's forehead protector off, blood coming from their mouths. They were both knocked on their backs, flying further away.

Hayate went over to the both of them. He announced. "Both fighters are unable to keep going. This is a double knockout, so there is no winner for match 4!"

Their sensei's picked them up and put them sitting up against the upper floor wall. Ino had multiple bruises and scrapes, as did Sakura. Sasuke and Naruto rushed over to their teammate. They both asked in unison, "Is she going to be okay?"

"Yeah, they'll regain consciousness in around 30 minutes," Asuma said, making them relax slightly.

"5th match: Temari versus Tenten," Hayate announced.

"Second member and oldest of then Sand team, how interesting," Neji said.

"Go, Tenten!" Lee cheered.

* * *

><p>"I lost..?" Sakura wondered.<p>

"Hmph, I'm the one that should be crying." Ino looked at her. "Losing…to someone….like you..

"You did make it….because you bloomed like a beautiful flower." Ino grinned widely.

"But don't expect next time to turn out like this. Plus, I have no intention of letting you have Sasuke-kun," Ino added.

"I should be the one saying that line!" Sakura yelled as they both turned away.

* * *

><p>"It's useless, Tenten's attacks are not effective against someone like Temari. She's too powerful for Tenten," Neji said.<p>

Many weapons were scattered on the floor as Tenten landed on her back at the tip of Temari's fan. "Hm, such a boring fight."

Naruto looked astonished. "That girl…is super strong!"

Hayate could tell who won even at a glance. "Winner: Temari!"

With extreme force, Temari threw Tenten onto the weapons on the floor before Lee caught his teammate.

"Nice catch, Eyebrows," Temari mocked.

"Why would you do something like this, to someone who gave her all in a battle?" Lee asked.

"Shut up and take that loser out of here," Temari scoffed.

**Konoha Senp****ū****! ** Lee started in the air as Naruto gripped the railing.

As he was about to kick her, she stopped the upcoming assault with her fan and said, "You are just as pathetic as you look."

"What did you say?" Lee warned.

Gai came onto the field and shouted, "Lee, stop!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Temari, get up here and stop wasting time with that freak," Gaara demanded.

Lee and Gaara met eyes as Temari went to the upper level. Gai put his hand on Lee's shoulder and said, "There's something I'd like to inform you about the Sand Team…."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I was planning on writing the fight between Temari and Tenten, but chose not to. Right now, I have a splitting headache that has gone on from the start of Ino vs. Sakura.

I like Temari, she's my favorite female character, but I had to keep this chapter shorter than what is would've been if I did show her fight. Well, that's it for now. New chapter coming soon in my awesome, golden week. My only golden week. Besides, if you're wondering about the new chapter of Naruto, it's golden week in Japan, so no new chapter, or it's just not out yet as I write this….

And, for a fact, Ino's eyes are a green color, not sky blue. Sky blue is anime version, green is manga version. If you don't believe me, look up official manga colored pictures. Plus, Bibo means 'Ino' meaning pig. That's how it works.

Konoha Senpū means Tree Leaf Whirlwind.

Ninpō Shintenshin no Jutsu means Ninja Art: Mind Body Switch Technique.

If you don't know what Bunshin means by this point, then you should search it up.


	12. Feral Beasts

**A/N: **Yes, the week is finally over! Well, not the Golden Week, that will end next Tuesday. Now, to Randomperson, your excitement will be answered soon because the Kiba versus Naruto event is coming closer. Maybe even this chapter.

* * *

><p>"What is it, Gai-sensei?" Lee wondered keeping his gaze with Gaara.<p>

"That Sand Kid is really strong, the three of them are," Gai said. "So prepare yourself."

Sasuke chuckled. "Naruto, if you fight that Gaara, you better not lose. Or I'll kill you myself."

Naruto grunted and turned as he heard Sakura get closer. "Sakura-chan, are you all right?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine. You should be worried about what's coming up next. Sasuke-kun and I have already done our matches, you're the only one out of the three of us left," Sakura said, joined Sasuke.

"Next match: Nara Shikamaru and Tsuchi Kin." Hayate looked at the board.

"A girl?" Shikamaru asked in disbelief as he heard Ino cheer, "Go, Shikamaru!"

"Don't fall for his stupid shadow trick, Kin," Dosu warned.

"There's no way I would," she scoffed, entering the field.

"Ready?" Hayate asked as they nodded.

_This is the only thing I have to win. _Shikamaru formed the seal of the rat and moved his shadow to capture hers.

It was a failed attempt as she had seen it coming. Kin ran to her right, saying, "Heh, as long I can see your shadow, I have nothing to fear!"

She automatically threw something that had chimes attached to them. He immediately ducked and turned to see that they were senbon with little bells on the end.

Shikamaru grinned. "That's a really old trick. You throw one senbon with a bell, so you think that's where I'll turn while you throw another one without a bell at when I'm not looking."

"You sure like to talk, Shadow Boy!" Kin seemed to move her arms slightly.

_Just need to dodge these needles, simple enough. _Shikamaru saw Kin do something as he looked over his shoulder. _String!_

She moved her hands so that the string had attacked Shikamaru, drawing blood and knocking him down. She smiled. "If I can dodge your shadow, I've already won. Now, I'll finish you off with…."

_What's going on? I can't move my body…._ Kin saw Shikamaru rise up with a smirk on his face. "I finally caught you in my Kagemane no Jutsu."

"Wha-what?" Kin wondered in disbelief.

"The shadow on your string is how I caught you. No matter how small or thin the shadow is, I can still catch it by manipulating my own," Shikamaru explained. "I can make your shadow fatter and fatter until it's easier to capture, do you understand now?"

Without another word, he pulled out shuriken from his holster, making her do the same. Kin scoffed, "We'll just be doing similar movements, so we'll both get hit."

They both threw their shuriken because of Shikamaru. "Let's see who can win!"

As the shuriken came closer, he felt his heart pound and sweat drip. He started to bend backwards, making Kin believe that he was insane.

When it came really close, he bent all the way backwards as the shuriken made her move back because the weapon hit her forehead protector. He flipped back onto his feet and smirked.

"A good shinobi must learn their surroundings and adapt to them quickly. Even if we move the same, the distance behind us was different." Shikamaru scratched his head. "I used the shuriken to distract you from the wall."

He saw her get taken on the stretcher as his teammates call, "'Shikamaru, you rule!' and 'Awesome, Shikamaru!'"

"Next match: Inuzuka Kiba versus Uzumaki Naruto!" Hayate announced.

"Finally," Naruto sighed, a smile plastered on his face.

"We can beat him, right Akamaru?" Kiba asked to Akamaru's barking 'Yes'.

"It's like we already won," Kiba taunted Naruto as they both stepped onto the field.

"Hey, Kiba, don't bring a puppy!" Naruto yelled.

"Dogs are the same as ninja tools, it's perfectly fine," Hayate said.

He set Akamaru on the ground, who was snarling at the blond. _That thing is looking at me funny. Wait; is its eyes even open?_

Hinata fidgeted from her area, watching the two. _I-I want to cheer on Naruto-kun, but Kiba-kun is on my team so…_

* * *

><p>"Today, we'll be practicing the Henge no Jutsu," Iruka said. "How about you Naruto? Come up first."<p>

The blond strutted between the seats to prove he could that jutsu. When he attempted, he turned into the Hokage, although it had huge, red lips.

Everybody in the class laughed at Naruto, and Iruka shook his head. Kiba was woken up by the sound of laughter as Naruto changed back and scratched his head. "I was joking! I totally did that on purpose!"

"Who is this guy?" Kiba asked himself.

"Uzumaki Naruto, this is your third year at the academy, so take it seriously!" Iruka demanded.

The children talked about how they liked how Naruto was a funny guy. _This time, I have to do this right._

Naruto attempted the Henge no Jutsu a second time, still turning into the same form of Hokage as he had done before.

Everybody stifled their laughter, Kiba as well. _This kid's been here for three years and can't do the Henge no Jutsu properly? What a lame loser!_

* * *

><p>Kiba sighed, "I'll end this quickly with one hit, okay?"<p>

Naruto felt his mark react to Kiba's statement. He heard Kurama speak. _**Are you going to let him disrespect you like everybody else?**_

_What?_

_**Don't tell me you can't see it. He still thinks you're the pathetic loser you were before. Teach the dog boy a lesson!**_

_Don't tell me what to do, Kyūbi! I got this!_

"Let's see, then!" Naruto put up his fist as well.

"I'll end it gladly." Kiba started to activate a jutsu.

**Shikyaku no Jutsu! **Kiba was surrounded by chakra and was on all fours as he attacked Naruto front the front.

The blond was knocked back, using his hands and feet to stop himself in a cloud of smoke. Kiba smirked. "Hey, Hayate, was it? This fool won't be getting back up for a while."

The smoke dispersed, revealing the Naruto was panting and coughing from it. His teammates weren't surprised. Naruto would never give up until he attained his dream of being loved and respected as a person and shinobi.

Naruto's mouth was dripping blood as he felt the seal grow slightly. Maybe he didn't have enough willpower to keep it down. "Don't you ever underestimate me!"

"Talking big for a loser," Kiba laughed.

_**Sorry, Naruto, but you have to go for now. **_

_Kyūbi, what's going on?_ Naruto fell back and closed his eyes.

Hayate ran to him and checked. "Winner: Inu—"

Naruto flashed his eyes open, his seal growing. "Don't finish."

"Uh…."Hayate drawled as he walked away.

Naruto went up, earning many stares and gazes from the watchers, especially his teammates' and Kiba's.

The seal covered his body as he ran to Kiba, fist thrown back. In a single hit, he knocked Kiba back.

Quickly, he used the Kage Bunshin no jutsu, ready to use an assault on Kiba. The shadow copies of him also bore the seal. They watched as he staggered back up, looking for Akamaru. "Naruto, what the hell is going on?"

Naruto was acting like a different person as he chuckled like a maniac. "Get your dog and forfeit already, Inuzuka."

_Kiba-kun is under attack and I wonder what's happening to Naruto-kun. _Hinata watched as the two boys clashed.

"What's wrong with you?" Kiba asked, repeatedly attacking with his kunai.

The blond didn't answer as he grabbed Kiba's kunai and disarmed him. His copy came to Kiba's side and kicked with full force.

The Inuzuka used his longer claws to stop himself from going any farther. Kiba looked at Akamaru and nodded. Akamaru ran over to Kiba, maneuvering between each of the clones to get a small pill from Kiba's hand and faced the blond.

Naruto and his clones watched in wonder as Akamaru's fur seemed to grow longer and red. "What the…?"

Akamaru growled and hopped onto Kiba's back and they both activated Jūjin Bunshin. Akamaru was now a more feral clone of his master, able to be easily noticed as he growled and snarled.

"How about this attack, Naruto?" Kiba yelled as he followed up with the Gatsūga.

They both spun at a dangerous speed to the blond and attacked his clones. Akamaru, still under the effects of what was the soldier pill and in the Gatsuga, went around attacking Naruto, spinning and moving even faster than before.

Naruto, with the power of the seal, and the slight help of Kurama, stopped Akamaru by putting his hands out and grabbing the sides of the spinning ninken.

Akamaru stopped spinning at this speed as Naruto's power was actually grabbing at the chakra, stopping his movements.

The crowd watched anxiously at the blond's next move, as Kiba went over to aid his ninken. **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**

More Naruto clones appeared several of them stopping Akamaru's master. Naruto back flipped, landed on his hand in front of Kiba, doing something similar to a handstand and moved his legs to Kiba's torso and spun them like windmills.

The Inuzuka was being assaulted relentlessly by Naruto, getting no mercy. Kiba sneaked in one soldier pill into his mouth, his eyes becoming crazier, even Naruto could see it.

Kakashi's eye widened. "These two are giving their all into trying to beat each other, one might end up dead."

Naruto used his Uzumaki Rendan on the Inuzuka, although only making growling sounds as he did so. He knocked Kiba between his clones.

* * *

><p>"What's going on, Kyubi?" Naruto growled. "Tell me!"<p>

"**I'm getting you noticed." **Kurama stared at his container. **"Your true side is coming into the light."**

"What the hell do you mean?" the blond asked.

"**All this time you've been hiding your true nature from everybody and even yourself. No matter how many times you try to keep it under, it'll eventually take its form sooner or later," **Kurama said. **"That seal bestowed upon you unlocks your inner beast. That's why you are now frightening even your closest friends with your recent actions. It'll be easier for you to submit to me than for you to fight back."**

Naruto saw as another him arose from the water. He looked the same except for the color of his eyes. He came closer to Naruto, chuckling. "Why are you so serious?"

"Why do you look like me?" Naruto yelled.

"You look like me, not the other way around." It said. "Call me Yami Naruto or Yami for short."

"Why are you here?"

"I'm the hatred that lives within you. I take the form of it and, if I and when I, get loose, I'll take it out on whoever you face. Doesn't that sound nice?" Yami Naruto asked.

"What?" Naruto growled. "I don't have hatred!"

"Are you so sure? You resent the fact that you were ignored, deemed as a loser to everybody, with the impossible dream of being the strongest shinobi," Yami Naruto sighed. "I can give you the power to be strong. Even if you resist, you'll be overtaken by it. Right, Kurama?"

The fox only nodded, saying, **"You are correct."**

"Come on, let's go. I'm already fighting for you, Naruto. Let's make the deal." Yami held out his hand.

Naruto extended his arm.

* * *

><p>Now, the clones and he were covered in Kurama's scarlet chakra, their teeth sharpening, their nails doing the same, and their eyes turning red with a slit pupil. He summoned more clones and attacked both Akamaru and Kiba until the ninken turned back into a dog, fainting from the exhaustion.<p>

They all turned toward Kiba, disappearing except for one, the real Naruto, who rose up his fist and said, "With this one hit, I'll end this match."

_What's going on with Naruto? He's gone completely crazy! Akamaru's down and I'm next! _ Kiba closed his eyes and rose up his fist as well.

The two boys ran to each other, throwing their fists at one another. The hits connected, although Kiba's hood came off as he fell on his back, flying.

Naruto just stood there with his head down and fist in the air. His seal retracted and Kurama's chakra disappeared. Hayate watched as Kiba went back, unconscious. "Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"

The Jōnin went to Naruto surrounding him.

"Are you okay?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto's eyes were dull as he nodded. "Kakashi-sensei, can you let me stay for the next fight? I really want to see it."

His sensei's eyes softened, Naruto was always going to be the same. "Just one more, okay?"

This was one of the times Kakashi felt like a father to his students. Kurenai hit his arm. "Kakashi, I don't think you should—"

She was pulled back by Asuma who shook his head, saying, "Kakashi wants to make sure Naruto won't lose control. With the amount of stamina that kid has, he'll make it through the next fight. Do you understand, Kurenai?"

She nodded, watching the medic team take away Kiba and Akamaru. Kakashi carried his student to the upper level and allowed him to lean on their railing, taking Sasuke to the side.

The Uchiha looked at Kakashi. "What's going on with him?"

"It's nothing, Sasuke."

"Nothing? I just saw one of my closest friends go insane, and you say it's nothing?" Sasuke raised his voice.

"As long as you keep quiet about it, Sakura won't have to worry," Kakashi said.

"Sakura? Why is she worried about me?" Sasuke felt that question to be stupid, as she did have a crush on him.

"She's worried of what you might do if you found out. Is that hard to believe?"

His eyes dropped as he shook his head. Sasuke did care about her and he didn't want her to be sad, but he wanted to do something. "Is there anymore I can do?"

"Well, you can try to keep Naruto in the good and try not to push or provoke him. Understood?"

"Yes."

They both returned to their team and watched as the names appeared in green, making Kurenai and Gai widen their eyes.

Hayate looked at the board. "Match Eight: Hyūga Neji versus Hyūga Hinata!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I'm probably going to update this a second time today because I was also excited to write this and the Neji against Hinata fight. I hoped you enjoyed the chapter. I also left the Yami Naruto and Naruto decision as a sort of hanger, as Kurama, in my opinion, would have forced his chakra into Naruto anyway.

I actually liked writing this chapter. Oh, and the reason why Naruto was acting different in the fight was because he was under the effects of the seal, which, as I've seen from Sasuke, makes you crazy. Also, he has Yami Naruto and Kurama forcing darkness onto him.

Translations:

Gatsūga – Fang Passing Fang

Jūjin Bunshin – Beast Human Clone

Yami Naruto – Dark Naruto

If I missed any, just tell me and I'll get to it.

Next chapter - Phase 13: Boiling Blood


	13. Boiling Blood

**A/N: **Do you know what the hardest part about this story is? Making the names exact. It takes a while to insert a certain character in and you know I also have to add it to a dictionary, and everything. And Ely, I now have an AOL, I just hate communicating through these things. Just add me as jack_pot_777. Yeah, I'm really strict about my name. And if you want a long, epic story, you should check out Kenchi618's The Sealed Kunai, Ely.

* * *

><p>Now, onto Phase 13: Boiling Blood!<p>

Hinata and Neji stepped in front of each other as Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were passing around the ointment she had given them shortly before her name was called. Every time they put it on a wound, it burned off easily.

"What is this?" Naruto wondered.

"Well, Naruto, it's a Hyūga special ointment that heals wounds," Sakura said. "You really should have thanked Hinata for it."

Hinata looked at her hands as she remembered what Kiba said.

"_If you fight against that Sand guy or Neji, I want you to forfeit immediately! He's so cruel to you, you might not make it against him," Kiba warned. _

She looked at her cousin. "Neji-nii-sama."

"Hinata-sama, I never would have expected to fight you," Neji said.

"Siblings?" Naruto wondered as he heard their words.

"No, they aren't siblings. Both Neji and Hinata are a part of one of the greatest clans in the village," Kakashi told him.

"Then what are they?" Sakura asked.

Lee came closer to Team Kakashi. "Well, I'll explain it! There are two houses in the Hyūga clan. Hinata-san belongs to the Main House as Neji belongs to the Branch House. Neji carries the Hyūga blood, although he is still in the lower house."

"So, they're cousins? That might make fighting difficult," Sasuke said.

"Not really," Lee pointed out. "Many things have happened over the years that made them not get along well. I don't know every detail about it, but I do know that the clan follows an old house rule. It is like this: The Branch House is meant only to protect the members of the Main House. Because of this rule, the Branch House feels inferior."

"So they hate each other?" Sakura asked as the match began.

"Hinata-sama, I want to tell you something," Neji started. "Forfeit now, you will never make a good shinobi. You are too kind.

"You only want harmony and no conflict, you agree with whatever others' say. You have little to no confidence in yourself. I wanted you to remain Genin so you wouldn't be put in danger."

She widened her eyes as he continued, "This exam is only taken in a team of three, so when your teammates requested it, you agreed. You unwillingly entered this world for the sake of them."

"N-no, I wanted to change myself. To become stronger, Neji-nii-sama," Hinata answered.

* * *

><p>Kurenai stood in front of Hiashi, Hinata's father, as he watched his daughters spar. She watched in concern as Hiashi ordered Hanabi to get up and continue to fight with Hinata.<p>

"Are you sure I should take care of her?" She asked as the sisters clashed again, making Hinata fall.

"Yes, the Hyūga clan no longer has a purpose for her. She is a loser, never winning against a sister 5 years younger," Hiashi said. "Take her."

* * *

><p>"You are nothing more than a spoiled brat from the Main House. You need to face facts, Hyūga Hinata-sama! People can never change themselves!" Neji yelled at his cousin.<p>

Her eyes widened, she felt as though she would cry, but refused to as she remembered her idol and crush, Uzumaki Naruto was watching. Neji continued his rant about her. "Losers will always be losers. Nobody's able to change themselves at all."

_That bastard! _Naruto studied Neji.

Hinata flinched at his next part of his talk and pushed her nearly to tears. "People can never change themselves because everything about them is decided when they are born. Looks, brains, personality, and size: Everybody is judged by these standards. They are unchangeable factors of a person.

"It's similar to the fact that I am from the Branch House and that you are from the Main House," Neji finished his sentence.

Kakashi looked as Naruto growled at Neji. _If he gets too overloaded with emotions, the Kyūbi might be released._

"So now I know that, from the use of my Byakugan, you are only acting strong, but you know that deep inside, you want to run from this life as a shinobi. Why do you not quit?"

"I-I don't want to quit!" Hinata exclaimed.

"Byakugan?" Sakura turned to Sasuke.

"The origin of the Uchiha clan's Sharingan lies within the Hyūga clan's Byakugan," he started. "It is an advanced Dōjutsu from the Hyūga clan that is passed down from generation to generation. It's similar to my Sharingan, in a way.

"Although, in terms of insight, which I hate to admit, but it does surpass the Sharingan," Sasuke said.

Veins were now visible around Neji's eyes and even on them. Circular ones were around where the pupils were supposed to be. Hinata looked at her cousin, trembling at the sight of the Byakugan activated.

He focused his eyes on hers. "Your eye drifted to the upper left, meaning you were remembering your terrible past. Then they went to the lower right, signaling that you were imagining both physical and mental pain. Right now, you are thinking about how this match will turn out.

"You're also raising your arms in front of yourself because you're trying to distance yourself from me and my words. You are trying to prevent me from seeing who you are on the inside because you are well aware that I am right."

She touched her right hand finger to her lips as the tears welled up at the edges of her eyes. "Touching your finger to your lips is revealing a disturbance. It is a defense reaction to calm down the nervous system. So you haven't realized yet…."

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were anxious to see what would happen next. In unison, they yelled, "You can, Hinata!"

She turned to see the teammates on the rails, leaning over it to see. Naruto shouted, "Kick his ass, Hinata! I believe you can do it!"

Hinata wiped them away as she saw Naruto encourage her. The Jōnin, exchanged glances as Kakashi grabbed the blond's shoulder. "Let's go, Naruto."

"But I'm fine!" Naruto protested as his sensei pulled him away.

"Kakashi-sensei! I want to watch Hinata beat Neji! Let me go, damn it!" Naruto raised his voice.

"No, you're not fine. Your emotions will make you go out of control." Kakashi didn't turn.

* * *

><p>Naruto extended his arm and pushed away Yami's hand. Kurama raised his eyebrow.<p>

"We are nothing alike," Naruto stated.

"**Still so naïve, but I can honestly tell you that we are the same. We are monsters," **Kurama chuckled with Yami.

"Don't you believe us, Naruto?" Yami asked.

"I….I don't believe in what you're saying!" Naruto shouted.

His darker counterpart smirked. "Even without me, you are still a beast. Don't you know what you're doing to that Inuzuka boy?"

"What?"

"Grab my hand and you'll know."

"Never!" Naruto ran through the pathway of his heart.

"Keep going, although you'll never get away," Yami Naruto taunted as Naruto kept running.

_I have to get out, but how?_

Naruto saw a wall in front of him turn into the front gates of Kurama. The Uzumaki boy couldn't stop fast enough and ran into the front of the seal, his hand coming in contact with it. His mark reacted to it, making a burning feeling as he fell to his knees.

Yami went closer to Naruto, watching as the seal grew and Kurama's chakra covered him. "He's a great one, isn't he, Kurama?"

"**I have to agree, he will be strong," **Kurama stated.

* * *

><p>Sakura watched as her friend got pulled away. "Hinata, keep going!"<p>

"S-Sakura-san, Naruto-kun…."Hinata was at a loss for words as she put her head down. _Thank you …._

She opened her eyes and stared at Neji, determination in her eyes. He looked at her. _Her eyes have changed._

"Hinata-sama, you won't forfeit? I will not be responsible for what happens," he said.

"Neither will I, Neji-nii-sama," she vowed.

"_I'll never go back on my nind__ō__!" _ She heard Naruto promise in her mind.

She put her arms in front of her, in a battle stance, and the veins around and on her eyes became visible. The Byakugan was activated. _I will no longer run away, Neji-nii-sama!_

They stood yards from each other, in their battle poses with Byakugan activated. Rock Lee clenched his fist as he watched the two cousins. "The strongest taijutsu style…..I know that the strongest genin in the Leaf is in my team…..Hyūga Neji."

The two ran toward each other, attacking with agility and power. Neji blocked each of Hinata's strikes to him. Although, he could not block the next attack.

When Hinata saw an opening she quickly charged chakra on her hand as she pushed away Neji with the hit.

"No, that wasn't deep enough," Sasuke noticed.

"On the contrary, even a slight touch is good enough for the Hyūga clan." Lee looked anxiously. "That's what makes the Hyūga clan so great."

"What do you mean by that, Lee-san?" Sakura wondered.

"The Hyūga clan has a special type of taijutsu passed down," Lee started to explain. "The type of taijutsu I do is different from theirs. Mine is called 'Iron Fist'. Iron Fist is the taijutsu type that specializes on breaking bones and causes damage to the outer body.

"However, the Gentle Fist style they utilize works on the inner body, causing damage to the organs inside. They also use the Inner Coils System to weaken their opponents."

_Naruto's not here, so does that mean Sakura and I have to cheer on the Hyūga girl? _Sasuke looked around for the blond.

"Go, Hinata!" Sakura cheered.

She and Neji slid their feet on the ground, moving to hit each other, but dodging every one. Sakura turned to Lee and Gai for more questions to be answered. "Um, what exactly is the Inner Coils System?"

"Do you know how veins carry the blood in your body?" Lee saw Sasuke and Sakura nod. "The Inner Coils System carries chakra throughout your entire body. The Inner Coils are around each of your chakra producing organs. If you attack the Inner Coils System, you also damage the inner organs."

"But how do you find the Inner Coils?" Sasuke wondered.

"They have the Byakugan. The Byakugan makes the system visible to their eyes.

Neji made swift movements, each failing until he launched arms forward, making everybody stare. His right hand struck her in the front while the left hit a point on her right arm. Blood poured from her mouth as she stared at him. "Is this the extent of power from the Main House?"

The room was silent except for the two battling. She moved his hand away, trying to attack him again, but he grabbed her arm and struck it near the elbow.

He held it from the top, moving his left hand to slide back her sleeve. "F-from the beginning, you were….?"

He saw the points on her arms through his Byakugan. "My eyes can also view the Opening Points."

"Opening Points?" Sakura watched.

"Above the Inner Coils System are 361 points called 'Chakra Holes' or so I've heard. They're supposed to be the size of a needle. They are called 'Opening Points' which can stop the chakra flow to that part of the body, if hit," Gai told her.

"And even my Sharingan cannot see them," Sasuke added.

He threw her away. Hinata slid on the ground and landed on her stomach before she tried to get up. Neji watched her. "The difference between us is the talent. The talent that divides a loser from an elite. This is the reality you and I live in. It cannot be manipulated.

"When you did not forfeit, you set yourself up for future regret. You are probably filled with desperation."

Sasuke growled at the Hyūga boy and felt himself, impulsively say, "Hinata, get back up!"

She was staring over her shoulder to see the Uchiha boy. _Where's Naruto-kun? _

She closed her eyes and sighed as she got up. _He's not here at this point, but I still feel as if he's here. Thank you, Sasuke-kun, Sakura-san…_

"Forfeit now," Neji demanded.

"No…I won't go back on my word." She was smiling. "Like Naruto-kun…it's my nindō."

"She's so much like him," Sasuke said.

"Well, she did always watch him," Sakura added.

She struggled to stay up as Neji ordered her to attack again. Her head went down as she coughed up blood. Kurenai watched in great concern. _This young child is at her limits. If she doesn't stop now, she might die._

"This match is over, unfortunately," Gai said. "Neji hit her 'Opening Points' so she can no longer use the Gentle Fist."

Sakura felt an outburst coming on. "Kick his ass, Hinata! Even if Naruto can't see you, he's still with you, right?

_Sakura-san…Sasuke-kun….and Naruto-kun, they all believe in me. I can't let them down! _She ran to her cousin, arms extended ready to attack.

Hinata neared her cousin and launched a hit for one in return. They both missed each other.

Naruto released himself from Kakashi and ran back to the battle. _Hopefully, I haven't missed it!_

Naruto ran to see Hinata on the ground, blood from her mouth, determination in her eyes. "Get him, Hinata!"

She heard his voice, and inspiration filled her yet again. She ran toward Neji again as Naruto's blue eyes followed her. To his dismay, she was hit by Neji, falling because of the force put upon her Inner System.

"Give up, Hinata-sama," Neji ordered.

"No, don't!" Naruto yelled.

"But Naruto, she's probably at her limits," Sakura said.

"He's right," Sasuke told her in a low voice.

The girl rose once again, shocking everybody. Blood still dripped from her mouth. Neji grunted, "Why do you continue to stand? I don't understand you!"

"The person I admire is finally watching, so I won't give up," Hinata said.

The blond smiled at her as she stood up. Kakashi was ready to take away Naruto, but saw how he influenced a quiet, shy girl like Hyūga Hinata.

"Even if you act tough, it is not the true you. From the time you were given the responsibility to hold the power from the Main House, you've hated yourself, the weakness in you. But people cannot change their destiny. There is no need to suffer, let go!"

"That's not true at all, Neji-nii-sama because what you said is not me," she defended. "The person that is lost and suffering between the Houses is you…."

He felt anger surge from within as he ran toward his cousin. Hayate yelled, "Neji-kun, the match is over!"

Before Neji hit her, the Jōnin and Hayate stopped him. Hayate's two fingers were on his forehead; Kakashi was grabbing his right arm, Kurenai grabbing his left and Gai holding him back.

Gai had concern in his voice. "Neji, you promised me you would not lose your head over the Houses."

"Why do even the Jōnin….I guess it's more special treatment for the Main House." Neji figured.

Hinata felt her organs in pain as she fell, painfully coughing up blood. Kakashi became worried as he found his students running down to her aid.

Naruto stopped first. "Hinata, are you okay?"

"N-Naruto-kun…Was I able to change?" She shut her eyes.

He was going to answer before he heard Neji call, "Hey, loser."

"What?" Naruto growled as he turned.

"Let me tell you two things. One: If you are a true shinobi, you should cut out cheering others on. The second: In the end, a loser will always be a loser, you cannot change."

"Do you wanna die, Hyūga?" Naruto threatened.

Neji only smirked. Naruto out of anger ran toward Neji, only stopped by Kakashi. "You are coming with me."

Kakashi grabbed Naruto by the shoulder yet again and disappeared. Lee watched in wonder. Hinata coughed up more blood with her heartbeat going erratic.

Kurenai glared at Neji. He looked at her. "If you have time to glare, then why don't you take care of her?"

"Medic team, hurry!" She called, signaling them.

They got her on the stretcher. Sasuke knew that Naruto would want revenge later and glared at Neji. "Next time, you'll go down."

"Big talk for a loser," Neji taunted.

"It's actually kind of cool, watching people do that," Kankurō noticed.

_The blond kid might be a monster, but ours is worse. _He looked at his younger brother.

Hayate coughed as the field was cleared. "Now, we will begin our next fight."

The four remaining candidates were waiting for the board to tell them who would be fighting.

"You hear that Lee, your match may be up soon." Gai smiled.

"No, I don't want to, right now. But I guess it's come this far so…" Lee said.

"Only strong guys are left. Why do I always have the worst luck?" Chōji complained. "Well, I guess I can forfeit immediately."

"And miss out on the chance of an All-You-Can-Eat steak dinner?" Asuma tempted.

"Anyone I fight is going down!" He change his mind.

Gaara could already feel that his name was next, it was only who he would be fighting that came to mind. He flashed down there and awaited the names.

"SAFE!" Chōji yelled, seeing the two names.

"Next match: Gaara versus Rock Lee!" Hayate announced.

"Get down here," the redhead said.

"Yes, it worked! I used reverse psychology on the board! I never wanted to go last!" Lee exclaimed.

"Just remember, keep your eye on the gourd," Gai reminded before adding, "Now, Lee! Go!"

He jumped down to be only a few feet from his next opponent.

Gaara only scoffed. Lee smiled. "I couldn't be happier."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **How did you like that? I hope you did. Next chapter released will be Phase 14: Terror of the Sand, if that will fit.

I also think there was nothing to translate, so that section of this is not present.

Did any of you see the newest chapter today? Yeah, another Kabuto flashback, but I actually kinda liked it. And don't forget, if you liked it, leave a review!


	14. Terror of the Sand, Part 1

**A/N: **Well, this was meant to be out on May 1st. This is it, I guess. Just a chapter featuring the amazing battle of Gaara and Rock Lee. Do you want to know something I learned after a little while of writing this? Sometimes, people get impatient waiting for another update and I get all nervous about an update, so I get a massive block, even when I'm just twisting canon. Well, I signed up for it, so I can blame myself.

* * *

><p>Lee rose up his right hand, keeping his fingers straight. He watched intently as Gaara pulled out the cork to his gourd and threw it to Lee, making Hayate smirk.<p>

"There is no need to get antsy," Lee said.

"Now, ninth match, Gaara versus Lee, begin!" Hayate announced.

In a second, Lee moved over to Gaara, using his Konoha Senpū. He was stopped in mid-attack, not connecting with his target as it was blocked by a sand coming from the gourd, capturing his shin.

_He…uses sand? _Lee watched as more sand came from the gourd. He felt the power of the sand that pushed him back.

While Lee skid on the ground, he saw glimpses of the light sand before he quickly regained balance, rushing toward his opponent. Lee bared his teeth as he pulled back his fist.

When he was close to connecting, a wall of sand blocked him from doing so. Lee followed his attack with swift kick, which was obstructed by the sand again.

He drew back, staring intently at his adversary. _He's not even moving. Not even his eyes._

"Why doesn't Lee use ninjutsu? Taijutsu obviously won't work on this guy," Sasuke said.

"Lee can't use genjutsu or ninjutsu. He can't utilize his chakra in those forms." Gai looked at his student.

"How did he even make it this far?" Sasuke wondered.

"Some of the shinobi are unable to use genjutsu and taijutsu. Lee is only one of them," Gain answered.

Lee's eyes widened as sand erupted quickly, striking him in the torso upward. From the air, he moved to be able to see Gaara as he landed on the index finger of the statue in the room. He stared at Gaara, appearing to be calculating a plan.

"And that's why he's going to win! Go, Lee!" Gai did his 'Nice Guy' pose to Lee. "Take them off!"

Lee saluted. "But Gai-sensei, you told me only to use it when protecting many precious people!"

Keeping his stance, Gai added, "It's all right, Lee. I allow it!"

With a nod, Lee kneeled down and started to take off what was concealed under his leg warmers. They looked like weights as he put them next to his, now easier to move, feet. "Now I can move easier!"

_Heh, there's still no way he can beat Gaara, even with less weight. _Temari smirked.

In a moment, there were two explosions, parallel to each other in front of where Lee stood. Gai grinned as the test takers were shocked, especially Gaara's siblings. He rose up two fingers and pointed them to Lee. "Go for it!"

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee appeared behind Gaara in a flash, almost as if he was teleporting over there.

Gaara was alarmed as he saw Lee over his shoulder, fist drawn back. As soon as his hand moved closer to hit Gaara, it was stopped by the sand he commanded. Lee launched another hit, being captured in around the sand, as did his other fist, directed toward Gaara's torso, and a kick that stayed in front of the Jinchūriki's face.

Gaara looked surprised at the simple fact that Lee was moving so quickly.

"Since he couldn't do genjutsu or ninjutsu, he spent all of his time working on his taijutsu. He'll never lose at this rate because he's a taijutsu specialist," Gai said.

Lee copied Gaara's stance, arms extended. As Gaara started to manipulate his sand, Lee moved over, doing a twirl to Gaara before he was in front of him, still in the air. With great speed, he knocked down Gaara's head with his heel.

Temari looked in wonder at Lee. _He…actually lasted this long?_

As Lee drew back, smirking at his enemy, Gaara looked up. His left eye was closed as he stared at Lee, a scar on his cheek.

"Lee won't lose in speed to anyone. That's why he'll beat this kid." Gai smiled.

"Now, we're getting started," Lee stated as he smiled slightly at Gaara.

"Lee, explode!" Gai rose up his fist.

"You got it!"

Lee's silhouette disappeared from behind his foe, making him turn while he came back in front of Gaara. "Over here."

Lee swung his fist at Gaara, effectively connecting it. He watched as Gaara slid back as he did his normal fighting pose. _He definitely felt that one._

Gaara had his eyes closed as a wall of sand appeared behind him, creating a shadow. He ignored as everyone awed in Lee's incredible speed. Much to everyone's surprise, it looked as though Gaara's skin was crumbling off.

They all heard a loud maniacal laugh emanating from the Jinchūriki. Lee saw the insanity in Gaara's eyes as he felt sweat drip from his forehead. "What's going on?"

Gaara kept on laughing as Lee put a hand behind his back, ready to launch an attack. The sand he controlled covered him up, creating a tight barrier around his body.

Sasuke looked over to the blonde kunoichi that was next to him. _When did she get over here?_

Temari seemed to know what Sasuke was about to ask when he slightly opened his mouth. "That's Gaara's absolute defense. He is normally covered with it all day. It's different from his Sand Shield, which move automatically."

"Is that all you got?" Gaara taunted.

_With that wall of protection around his body, this might be difficult for me. My attacks can become useless against it. I guess I have no choice but to use…_ Lee had determination in his eyes. _..The Lotus!_

He looked up at Gai, who gave him to 'Okay'. Lee hung his head down as he slowly started to remove the wrappings on his arms. Gai stared intently at his student. _With the power of the Lotus, that protection of sand is useless against Lee._

Gaara watched as Lee disappeared from sight. He flicked his eyes to the direction over his shoulder as smoke clouds appeared in a circle around himself. _Ninjutsu? No, it must be something different, or else he could have used it at the beginning of our battle._

"Hurry up and stop wasting time," Gaara said.

The sand moved in a fluid motion from the base of the ground. Gaara was prepared to defend himself from all of Lee's possible attacks. Or at least that's what his arrogance told him.

Lee looked at Gaara, who stood still. With so much speed, Lee came close to Gaara and kicked his jaw upward. "As you wish, this is not over yet!"

Gaara had his arms in a defensive position as he looked at Lee. Dodging the sand that was aimed for him, Lee launched both himself and Gaara up into the air.

Lee winced in pain as he and Gaara started to get closer to the ceiling. Gai put his hands together as if he were praying and quickly shut his eyes. _End it quickly, Lee! These attacks are doing dangerous things to your body!_

He grabbed Gaara and switched their direction, so that they were now descending at a high speed, heads to the ground. Using the loose wrappings, Lee put Gaara in a bind, activating his Initial Lotus.

He started to spin the both of them a dangerous speed, creating a drill-like appearance. Lee kept his hands tightly around the wrapped Gaara's arms as he said, "Take this!"

They both shut their eyes, awaiting the ground that they were quickly heading to. It seemed like so long for them to hit the floor, but it was only a matter of seconds for the spectators.

A large smoke cloud was created as the two boys hit the ground. To match, some of the earth beneath them rose up.

As the cloud appeared, Gaara looked unconscious, his eyes closed. Temari and Kankurō looked at their brother with wide eyes.

Sakura had a large smile on her face. "Lee-san! He won!"

* * *

><p>"Kakashi-sensei, where are we?" Naruto looked around.<p>

"You need to be quiet, Naruto. People might hear," Kakashi said. "Now, take off your shirt."

Naruto's eyes widened as he made a cross with his arms. "Kakashi-sensei, I don't swing that way! I don't like guys at all!"

Kakashi shook his head. "Not like that. It's about your seal."

He lowered his arms. "Seal? How do you know?"

"From your battle with Inuzuka Kiba. You activated it and nearly killed the poor boy," Kakashi explained as Naruto removed his jacket.

The blond closed his eyes and sighed. He knew that the seal was activated, but he didn't know that Kiba could have been killed. Naruto now truly believed that he actually was the monster people thought he was.

Kakashi waited until Naruto had removed the black shirt that was under the jacket. His seal was visible to the Jōnin.

He approached Naruto, who was standing in the middle of the room. Kakashi formed so many seals; Naruto couldn't tell which ones they were. "Be ready, Naruto."

When Kakashi was done, he put his hand on Naruto's seal, creating markings on his back. Naruto winced in pain as he hunched over, clenching his teeth.

_This seal isn't weak. It's way too powerful for a twelve-year old kid, especially one like Naruto. _Kakashi saw new markings form as he held the seal tighter.

When the markings started to retract, Kakashi waited impatiently for it. It moved slower, signaling that a force was keeping it from being suppressed.

"_Trying to keep us down, Naruto? I'll tell you right now, no matter how hard you try, you won't win." _Naruto heard Yami say in his mind.

He put more force into keeping his jaw shut, trying to endure the ending pain. It receded from his torso, becoming only a circular design around his seal.

With a more relaxed face, he dropped down, landing on his right cheek as Kakashi stood up straight. The teacher sighed as he scratched the back of his head and covered Naruto with the orange jacket.

"Kakashi-san, are you sure that will work?" Jiraiya's back was against the wall in front of the silver-haired male with his arms crossed.

"Jiraiya-sama!" Kakashi growled, stepping in front of the blond boy.

"I applaud you, Kakashi-san, still using honorifics to your enemies," he said, stepping forward to Kakashi.

He put his hand on his mask, ready to pull it down if the sage came further.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Okay, it's been a while guysand I felt like I needed to update, but right now I have to do a lot of things and hopefully over the summer, I'll be a bit faster on these updates. Now, I'm cutting the actual battle in half since I wanted to get this out here after about 10 days of absence. There's a reason for it, but I can't share it.

I don't know if there's anything to translate, but I did do the Konoha Senpū thing, so why not just translate that? It's Leaf Whirlwind.

So...Read and Review if you liked it!


	15. Hard Work

**A/N: **Okay, I'm making this a quality chapter because I think it's what you guys deserve for reading for this long. Plus, it's Gaara and Lee! Who doesn't love them and their level of bad assiness?

* * *

><p>Lee landed on his feet, watching the smoke disappear to reveal a fallen Gaara. Despite Sakura's statement, Lee didn't believe that he won, since it seemed way too easy. The siblings weren't messing around when they acted arrogantly. He heard his sweat drip on the floor as he panted heavily, watching Gaara intently.<p>

Much to everyone's, except Lee, Gaara's body turned a sandy color as it started to crack. When the top of the face started to fall due to gravity, it revealed a hollow shell of Gaara. Although people on the upper floor had their eyes glued on the field, only Lee noticed the sand moving on the floor.

He couldn't do a quick reaction as he felt Gaara come up from the sand over his shoulder. From the sand he came from, Gaara took his time with his movements because he knew of Lee's condition. His eyes were filled with a maniacal feel as he laughed like a mad man. As the sand started to fully complete Gaara's body, Lee went on his behind, anxiety in his eyes.

When his body became whole, Gaara quickly crouched down, forming a hand seal to control his sand. The sand from his gourd had created an attack that could easily overwhelm Lee. For a second, Lee saw Gaara's eyes, which were now filled with an ultimate insanity. He started to crawl away from the sand to think of something.

Temari and Kankurō watched as Gaara began his attack. She looked with concern at Lee. Although she didn't like the boy, she sure didn't wish this upon him. Temari could easily recognize that Gaara was unleashing his inner demon, the Shukaku.

He trembled as he saw the shadow of the sand come over himself, starting to become more frantic with his movements. Before he could do anything, the sand went under him and pushed him up, only to be hit on the side with more force. Lee wasn't able to do anything because of the strain he put on himself and the power of the boy from the sand village.

The sand forced his back to the wall, making him feel as though he would just curl up and forfeit. That's when more sand came after him, getting closer every second. Lee put his arms up in a defensive position as it came closer and closer to his body. With a crash, the sand rammed into the wall around Lee, not hitting him intentionally.

From the debris, Lee was panting, exhausted from the Lotus. The sand poured to the ground smoothly, but left Lee in a state of constant worry. Gaara watched his opponent, whose sweat was dripping in the sand that he was moving. His bright blue eyes wanted something else in the sand. He wanted the blood from his enemy in the sand because it was his proof of existence.

_The double-edged sword of the Lotus…Will kill Lee if he doesn't stop. _Gai watched in concern at his student, who was still trembling after the attack. From all that Lee has been through, this was his moment to show that his hard work would pay off. That he would not be a failure of a shinobi that had no talent.

His Sharingan practically begged to be used against the sage, but that was the part of his personality that had the feel of Obito. Naruto had to be protected from the mad man that wanted his power. With everything Naruto has been through, Kakashi could tell that being persuaded by Jiraiya would be easy.

Jiraiya's appearance surprised Kakashi, only knowing the intimidation aura of the Sannin. This was one of the only moments when Kakashi wanted to get the other two Sannin, but that would be easier said than done, as they've not spoken for years, or so the Hokage said.

Jiraiya got closer, as Kakashi did the same, ready to stand his ground for his student. Despite being the old sage he was, in his younger look, Jiraiya moved quickly behind Kakashi, holding him still. The sage smirked at the teacher as he could feel the power of Kurama trying to break free from the blond boy.

He pushed Kakashi away from the boy, keeping a hovering left hand over Naruto. With calmness in his eyes, Jiraiya turned his smirk into a warm smile. "Nice day, isn't it, Kakashi-san?"

He spoke no answer as he felt the urge to destroy the man standing in front of him with his Chidori. The lightning nature type flowing throughout his body had a tense feel. As did his Sharingan, which would be able to hold its own against whatever Jiraiya could throw.

While he contemplated his strategy, the sage kept his hand over Naruto, starting to gather energy on his palm. The power was a blue color as he gathered it quickly. It was unlike anything Kakashi had seen before in his life. He wondered if Jiraiya was planning on doing something to Naruto or himself.

From pure instinct, Kakashi put his palm down, grabbing his wrist while he was ready to charge a Chidori. He knew he couldn't do anything as long as Naruto was still close to Jiraiya, as he might accidentally hit him.

Jiraiya looked confused and curious as he saw Kakashi standing still. "What's wrong, Kakashi-san? Is there something wrong?"

_Maybe I could use Pakkun to distract him, but… _Kakashi scratched the idea as he remembered that Jiraiya would be able to counter any move he would do. He was in check or in checkmate already.

* * *

><p>From beneath his feet, the sand rose up and shot him in the air. With the rushing of the air in his face, he closed his eyes as the sand whipped him back down to the ground. On his way down, he was able to get back on his feet safely. He wiped the side of his mouth as he looked at Gaara, who was standing straight up as he held his hand seal.<p>

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><p>Lee ran with the children of his academy class with great strain. One of his classmates mocked Lee. "Heh, you can't be a ninja if you aren't a ninjutsu or a genjutsu, can you, Lee-san?"<p>

He turned his head, away from them as another said, "You also can't do anything in taijutsu either! You have the lowest scores of everybody in the school!"

Lee put his hands to his ears, blocking out the sounds of his classmates as one asked him, "Do you even know what you're called here?"

Lee ran faster away from them as he shut his eyes. He attracted the attention of Gai, who stared at him through a window. "They call him Mr. Spirited Loser."

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><p>"From today on, you are all genin!" Gai said with great enthusiasm. "I'd like to know what your goals are!"<p>

"I'll pass," Neji said simply.

"I want to be a strong shinobi like the great Tsunade-sama!" Tenten told Gai with a smile.

Then, out of the blue, Lee yelled out, "I want to prove that I can be a great shinobi without genjutsu or ninjutsu with just hard work! That is my life goal!"

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><p>He ran from the sand that rushed to him on the field. Lee panted heavily as he tried to dodge each attack Gaara unleashed at him. He moved with great speed, moving blindly across the ground trying to keep up with Gaara's attacks.<p>

With a great power, Gaara whipped around Lee, creating a smokescreen on the field. It started to disperse with nothing moving in the smoke. Lee had his arms in a cross while Gaara stood still, a blank expression, but an overall crazy look in his eyes.

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><p>Neji threw his fist Lee, who blocked his quickly. In a swift movement, he followed it up with an uppercut to Lee's jaw. Lee flew back into the air and fell back on the ground, groaning. Although he was forced on the ground, Lee started to rise up from the ground.<p>

"Lee, you really don't know when to give up, do you?" Tenten shook her head at her teammate.

When he rose up, Lee went over to the log which he had put his stuff by in the morning. With the eyes of his teammates watching him, he took out a jump rope and vowed to do 1200 jumps to get stronger, and if he couldn't do that, he would kick the log 2000 times.

As he jumped and counted, Lee tried to hide his exhaustion. "1116, 1117…"

His left foot connected with the rope as he fell and hit his head on the tree in front of him. His forehead slammed into the wood as he slid to the ground, tears falling from his eyes. Lee was frustrated that he couldn't do anything right.

Gai came from behind Lee, asking, "Taking a break already, Lee?"

A warm grin was on his face as he looked at Lee. The student did not answer as he stood up and started to kick the side of the tree with force. His shin slammed onto the wood as though he was trying to get revenge on the tree.

Not feeling right about leaving Gai's question unanswered, Lee said, "If this is about the mission I messed up earlier, I already made up for that, Gai-sensei."

The sound of Lee hitting the tree rang throughout the forest as Gai kept his smile. "You are different from Neji, Lee. You aren't a genius, you can't use genjutsu, and you can't use ninjutsu, but you have so much potential to surpass Neji that he doesn't have."

Lee kept up his activity as he responded, "If you're trying to cheer me up, it's not working."

"I'm not saying this to cheer you up, it's because…"

Lee stopped hitting the tree as he gripped the sides of it as Gai continued, "It's because you are a genius of hard work."

"I-Is it…Really true?" Lee couldn't believe what he was hearing from Gai. "I always believed that if I trained harder than Neji, I would become stronger than him. I would prove to him and everybody that I don't need genjutsu or ninjutsu to be a great shinobi. Does it really pay off, Gai-sensei?

"But no matter how hard I train, I can't become stronger. I'm too weak! What should I do, Gai-sensei?" Lee felt tears stream down his face.

Gai's expression turned more serious as he answered Lee. "Hard work is worthless to those that do not believe in themselves!"

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><p><strong>AN: **Chapter: Done! Terror of the Sand, Part 2 coming soon! I liked this chapter, personally. It's quite good. You know, I used to think that having two stories would be easy, but it's not. I mean, for me, my thoughts on each one get cluttered and I get a block for one of them. But I can't give up just yet!


	16. Terror of the Sand, Part 2

**A/N: **Been a while, hasn't it? I wanted to get this done before June because I thought I should update it. I've been a bit busy and I hope that this chapter will be good enough for a week or two.

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><p>Lee put up his forearms in defense as sand rushed over to him. His heart was racing as he knew he had to hold up against the psychotic Jinchūriki from Suna. He heard Sakura warn him to forfeit, but his will to prove himself made him keep going in the battle.<p>

For a split second, the sand clumped together as it lashed at Lee. Part of it had struck the ground beneath his feet, knocking him in the air due to the double strikes. Lee saw his sensei grin at him, urging him to keep going forward in the fight.

He landed on his feet, his arm straight and ready to battle. With just that one expression from his sensei, he was revived for the battle. A grin was on his face as he looked at Gaara's expressionless face. Sakura looked at Gai, wondering how he became full of energy in a second.

"What's going on with Lee-san?" Sakura asked him.

"How the tables have turned!" Gai smiled. "As always, the Lotus blooms twice! Lee is always ready for a second round!"

"I'll end this battle now," Gaara said to Lee, "by finishing you off."

"Are you sure? I think I will be the one to defeat you!" Lee answered with renewed energy in his voice.

Gai watched intently at his student as Sasuke and Sakura looked at him. That was possibly the first time they had ever seen Gai so focused, other than when he was speaking about youth. Lee closed his eyes, crossing his forearms while his palms faced Gaara.

With such great speed, he whipped his arms to his sides as the power and energy in his body became a physical force. His fists and teeth were clenched as his skin turned red, veins pulsing on his body. "Third Gate: Life Gate. Open!"

He kneeled down, focusing more energy on his body as Gai kept watch. He seemed to be putting strain on himself when he opened a gate. "Fourth Gate: Harm Gate. Open!"

_Go on, Lee, but don't put too much pressure on yourself. As you know, you can only reach the Fifth Gate. _Gai was staring at Lee with anxiety in his eyes.

Lee ran forward with great power and blinding speed. The ground he stepped on only burst in to the air, breaking under his feet. Gaara couldn't see Lee at all; he only felt what it was like to be on the receiving end of the Lotus. Lee had done his kick on the bottom of Gaara's jaw, with almost enough force to shatter the bones in his mouth.

Because of the amount of power and impact, an eruption of smoke was caused around the whole arena. Some of the energy had gone through the air of the area, pushing back some shinobi. The younger ones had violent pressure put on their bodies.

As the smoke started to clear, Temari turned her head around, looking for Gaara and Kankurō. Luckily for her, Kankurō had not been injured, but Gaara on the other hand, did not have the same luck. His body was in the air, his eyes half-closed. The sand barrier around his body was cracking as he was moving his sand to form a small cradle to catch his body.

Gai grinned at Lee's work. His student was a real special kid that even surprised him. It's no wonder he prefers to work with Lee than Neji, who just doesn't listen since he gets it right away. He continued watching as Lee reappeared in front of Gaara.

With such great force in his hit, Lee slammed his knuckles against Gaara's chest, the strength knocking him back. As Gaara was blasted back in the air, Lee appeared behind him for a second, launching another powerful hit, which was stronger than the last one.

As Gaara was knocked in the air, Lee kept following where he went and bashed him again, creating the illusion that they were in multiple places at one time. Gaara could feel every hit that he got from Lee. The more he got attacked, the harder the punches got.

He felt the layer of sand on his body breaking as Lee pulled back his left fist. He was also aware of Gaara's state. _He's still continuing with the armor? Then I'll just have to smash it to pieces!_

From within his arm, he felt his muscles being destroyed by the strain of the Lotus. Gaara's armor was being ripped off as Lee landed on the ground, activating the Fifth Gate: Limit Gate. His powers were now being released at berserk levels. For what he could not do in ninjutsu and genjutsu, he always tried to make up for it in the only available option for him: Taijutsu.

Through the Lotus, he was able to release his inner power that he had spent years honing and developing. This battle was his time to shine, to take the spotlight and prove himself in front of all of his comrades.

With a high leap, Lee went into the air, passing Gaara on his way up. His agility made it seem like he was flying in the air. He pulled back his left fist again, falling quickly to get to his target, Gaara. Lee could feel his muscles being destroyed as he moved through the air.

Gaara was staring at Lee, shocked that a mere human can move so quickly. He wanted to defend himself with his sand, but the blazing fast speed of Lee was too quick. He could feel the pressure of Lee's powerful fist connect with his gut. The strength and force he felt was the highest he had ever felt.

He was blasted back near the wall. His movements halted as he had to take in the pain of the hit he had received. With a swift movement, Lee undid some of his bandages, throwing them to wrap around Gaara's torso. Lee was far from done at this point.

_Neji, I was going to battle you with these attacks, but I have to use them now! _ Lee started to pull back Gaara, whose back was stuck in the wall. His siblings could only watch as he was pulled back by Lee, the wrappings binding tightly around his body.

As he pulled with his left arm, he put his right arm and leg straight, ready to collide with Gaara at full force. Gaara widened his eyes as he saw Lee with the Fifth Gate open. The aura that Lee gave off was intimidating, even to a boy like Gaara.

Lee had used one of his strongest moves, Ura Renge. His foot and fist pounded Gaara's chest simultaneously. The impact it had was Gaara slamming into the floor, the ground breaking under the force of the hit.

Lee had fallen as well, sliding on the ground on his side. He saw the debris and smoke around Gaara as he came to stop, staying still. He widened his eyes in pain, as his body was being ripped apart on the inside. He could see Gaara from the smoke.

He was lying on his back, his right arm extended to control his sand. Before he could react, Lee's arm was captured in the sand. He felt it clench around the breaking muscle. Lee continued to move, getting on his feet and starting to run.

The Sabaku Kyū had been activated by Gaara as he closed his hand to constrict around Lee. The power of it made Lee cry out in agony. His leg and arm began to feel as though they would tear off if he went any farther.

The sand pulled him to the ground, crashing into the debris on the ground. He felt the hard ground smash against his skull as the sand slowly started to retreat from his body. Gaara saw Lee, who was still, unmoving with his eyes shut.

As he tried to command a storm of sand to get to Lee to finish him off, something was obstructing the way. Gaara brought the sand back from Lee's area to see Gai, protecting his student. With the look of seriousness Gai gave him, he was already on the verge of snapping.

In his mind, he saw his siblings as children, his father, and his mother. The image of it shattered as he gripped his forehead, straining his mind. It seemed as though the mere remembrance of his childhood could completely destroy his psyche.

"Why did you save…"Gaara wondered, wincing in the pain his mind and memories were causing him.

"He is my beloved comrade, student, and friend," Gai answered Gaara in a serious voice. "That is why I saved him."

Lee, with half-lidded eyes, saw Gaara turn his back, beginning to control the sand within his gourd at full force on his teacher. But before he was able to, Hayate stepped onto the field. Knowing that he was probably going to announce the winner, Lee tried to push himself up with his right arm and leg.

"Winner: Gaara!" Hayate shouted, halting the movement of Gaara's sand. With blood dripping down his arm and leg, Lee stood there, preparing to change who the winner was. His determination was great, especially since the person he admired most was standing on the field with him.

Gai saw his student ready to fight yet again. He went over and grabbed Lee's shoulders to look at him. He wasn't in any good condition. Gai felt the tears on his face as his vision became blurry. "Lee, it's over. Your body can't handle anymore battling."

_Even to the point of unconsciousness, he never gives up on his ninja way. Lee, you sure are an amazing kid, and such a great shinobi! _Gai held Lee, who could barely stand, in a hug. He felt it was all he could do to help Lee after his loss.

Gaara watched the two stand close. On the outside, he was revolted by it, but on the inside that is what he wanted. He wanted a sister who would hug and congratulate him and a brother who would protect him. But because of the demon he was, they always ran from him.

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><p><strong>AN: **I don't think there was enough action in that like Naruto vs. Kiba. I always compare my battles to that because I think it's the best one I've ever done. Well, that's it for Terror of the Sand, Part 2. Next chapter: The Preliminaries End.

Now, for translations!

Sabaku Kyū - Sand Binding Coffin _or _Desert Coffin for some people.

Ura Renge – Revers Lotus _or_ Extreme Lotus _or_ Hidden Lotus

That's it and I will see you guys next time! Well, you'll be reading what I type instead of seeing me. It might take a while to get the next chapter, but I am a bit busy although I will try to give you a great chapter soon. So I'll see you all. Don't forget to leave a review of the chapter if you liked it!


	17. The Preliminaries End

**A/N: **So the preliminaries are ending in this chapter, of course. The title of the chapter should have told you about that. My first June update and I think it's pretty good. Well, not so much June weather but the freedom I have. I much prefer winter because I prefer the cold to the heat. Anyway, let's get on with the chapter.

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><p>"You've been stalling, haven't you?" Jiraiya wondered, running his hand through his hair. Kakashi was on the ground, kneeling over. He was stalling, but he was trying to protect Naruto with all that he had.<p>

_I have no choice. If I can't use the Sharingan, Naruto will be in trouble. _His body was trembling from the physical exhaustion of the battle. With a shaky hand, he started to pull down the part of his mask that covered his left eye.

As he was pulling it down, he saw Jiraiya's hand point toward his direction. From his fingertips, a purple chakra appeared. Kakashi could feel the effects of the jutsu all too well. The flow of his chakra was slowing down.

"You remember what this jutsu is, right?" Jiraiya wondered, keeping his hand pointed at the younger male. He waited until Kakashi nodded to move his hand away, the chakra disappearing. Jiraiya looked at Naruto with great interest.

"The Gogyō Fūin, a truly marvelous jutsu, isn't it?" He added, staring at his palm. "With the ability to disturb one's chakra flow, or stop it completely, it's probably one of my favorites. I don't know what I would do without it."

_Damn it! If I can't use any jutsu, it's impossible to fight with him! _Kakashi looked over his shoulder to check on is blond student. _I have no choice; the Sharingan is my only chance._

With great speed, he revealed his Sharingan to the sage. Kakashi grabbed onto the back of Naruto's shirt, the jacket falling to the floor. He disappeared, going to the corner of the room, setting his student there.

He looked back at his opponent, his Sharingan burning. He grabbed one of his kunai, rushing over to the sage. As he twisted to gain force, he saw Jiraiya stand still, not moving. Kakashi moved the kunai forward, about to strike him.

As soon as the blade came into contact with Jiraiya, he disappeared in a puff of smoke. He dropped to his feet, alert to find Jiraiya's presence. He looked around, keeping his main focus on the place where he had set Naruto.

He felt a tap on his shoulder, from only Jiraiya. As he turned his head back, he saw the sage towering over him. Before he could see it, even with the Sharingan activated, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He could tell it wasn't any type of blade, no that pain was a different type of feeling.

Kakashi was blasted into the air, slamming into the ceiling. His vision was getting darker as he felt his chakra flow stop completely. As he fell down, he turned his head to see Naruto, who remained still. With a small thud, he fell on his stomach, which was already in pain.

The disturbed flow had him losing vision in his left eye. As it started to go, the powers of the Sharingan had reduced. He saw Jiraiya's walk closer to him, the footsteps echoing through the small chamber. "Kakashi, you're stalling has gotten me bored. I'll see you in the near future. And remember, the preliminaries are ending, only one more battle to go. You better heal up if you want to see the finals."

Every time he closed his eyes, he felt the urge to keep them closed. The will to protect Naruto had kept him from doing so. The sage began to walk away, not going near any of the two. He turned his head to look at Kakashi. "Don't worry, I won't hurt the boy. You'll have to repay me sometime soon."

_Like hell I will. _Kakashi blacked out into unconsciousness. All feeling in his body numbed, all pain disappeared as he lost grip of reality.

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><p>"Anko-san, can you go check on Kakashi-san? He's been gone for quite some time, and he's missed something he would have wanted to see," Hiruzen asked the girl to his side. "Go to the chamber to check on him and Naruto."<p>

"Yes, Hokage-sama," she said, nodding her head. She looked at the arena for a second, watching all of the actions going on. As soon as she got her mind back on what the Hokage ordered her to do, she sped up to the chamber Kakashi had used to do the sealing.

She ran in the halls to the room where she was supposed to go. While she ran, she pondered what could have happened to the two. _Kakashi, you really are a piece of work aren't you?_

Anko saw a man walking in the hall in her direction. She felt like she had seen that man before, but couldn't put her finger on it. She continued to the room, assuming that the man had assisted Kakashi with the process.

As soon as she passed him, a familiar, dangerous feel came over her. That aura could only be caused by one man. The one man that she thought of with admiration. Jiraiya. When she looked back, he was gone. He just disappeared from sight.

She stopped, looking at where he was, and shook her head. Anko turned back to see the door to the room as she ran. As she neared the entrance, she tried to feel relaxed. She slowed down, putting her hand on the handle. Pushing it, she saw the dim lights of the room.

All of her movements halted as she saw a knocked out Kakashi and Naruto in the room. Her heart was beating faster as she slowly moved to the Jōnin. She moved him on his back, putting her fingers on his neck to check his pulse.

Though it was weak, she could sense he was still alive. _Damn it, I should have gotten here earlier! I should have sensed something was wrong!_

She pressed her earpiece, keeping her eye on Naruto. "Medical-nin, report to the chamber. Repeat, report to the chamber. We have two shinobi down, come immediately."

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><p>"Lee-san!" Sakura was about to go over the railing when Sasuke grabbed her shoulder. The pressure of his hand stopped her from moving. She looked back at him, seeing his face.<p>

"Don't, you're just going to make the situation worse than it is for him," he said. "Consoling him isn't going to do much for his self-esteem."

Hayate went over to Lee, who was being held up by Gai. He put his hand on his shoulder, looking him in the eyes. Lee could barely see, but was able to center his eyes to look at Hayate. He looked at the young boy as he called for the medical-nin.

From over his shoulder, he was able to see several of them rush up to the chamber and the rest going to Lee. Two of them stood still, the gurney in between them. One of the medical-nin helped to get Lee on it, lying him down on the gurney.

"Which one of you is his Jōnin commander?" The commander of them asked out loud. Gai raised his hand, walking over to the man.

"Come with me, you might want to be present as we take him to the hospital."

"Yes, but what are his injuries?" Gai wondered, looking at them with a serious face.

"His muscles have been put under immense strain; a few of his limbs have been seriously damaged as well. With these injuries, he'll never be a shinobi again," the man answered.

"Lee-san will never be a shinobi as long as he lives?" Sakura wondered in disbelief.

Sasuke stood to her side, watching the medical-nin take Lee away. "I can't believe it either, Sakura. But life is never prefect. He's worked on being a shinobi without any chakra against all odds just to lose it. Keep your hopes up, sometimes miracles can happen."

"Gaara, you won," Temari said, her brother coming back to them. "Welcome back."

He stayed silent, watching Hayate announce the last match of the preliminaries.

Chōji was shaking as he knew he would have to go up against that Sound guy. Dosu, on the other hand, was waiting to begin. All he lived for was to fight for Jiraiya-sama. He just had to win to battle against Naruto for the next match in the finals.

The two stood across from each other in the arena. Chōji glared at Dosu, a vein on his temple. _Those two bastards better watch, or I'll kick both of their asses!_

"Heh, you better not try to chicken out, fatty," Dosu teased.

"Oh, shut up you bandage wearing freak! Let's go right now!" Chōji threatened, the vein on his head pulsing.

As Dosu prepared his arm to attack, Chōji put his hands in a seal. Baika no Jutsu was activated, his body becoming larger. He hid his head in his scarf. _All I have to do is hide my ears, right? _

"And I'm not fat! I'm pleasantly plump, so shut up about it!" He shouted, using his Nikudan Sensha. He started to break through the ground and get closer to Dosu. But before he could connect the hit, Dosu moved to dodge the attack.

As he dodged, Chōji quickly redirected himself, smashing Dosu into the wall. From inside of the wall, he pounded his fist into Chōji's gut. He used the power that was inside of his arm and blasted Chōji away into the center of the field.

"The winner is Kinuta Dosu!" Hayate announced. "The preliminaries have now concluded!"

"I want to- I wanna eat…meat," Chōji said in a daze as the medical-nin crowded around him.

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><p><strong>AN: **Well, that's it for the preliminaries. Sometime soon the finals should begin. Okay, so I think it's good to have this part of the story off of my chest.

Baika no Jutsu – Multi Size Technique

Nikudan Sensha – Human Bullet Tank

Gogyō Fūin – Five Elements Seal

So if you decide to favorite or alert, can you leave a review on my work? I just like to know that people like a certain part of a chapter, or a whole chapter. Leave a review if you favorite or alert because it heightens my confidence. So, that's it. And what's with this Image Manager? Never would have thought they would add covers to stories. Bye for now, see you next chapter.


	18. The Explanation of the Finals

**A/N: **Hey, guys! So I'm going to be updating better chapters now. I've already decided on what's going down in the future that involves powers. It's all on one of my pages in my personal folder. And I think Team 7 is going to be very, very badass…Even Sakura. Yup, badass, likable Sakura. That's new to some of you, right?

I'll also try to make her a more likeable character overall since she's disliked by some fans of Naruto. I'll try my best to make her on the same level as her two teammates. Just read ahead in the chapter to get more of the story.

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><p>"Now, all of the winners line up where I can see all of you," Hiruzen demanded, a smile still on his face. He watched the winning shinobi and single kunoichi line up.<p>

"Well, one of the winners is missing, but we still have to explain the Third round of the Chūnin Exams," Hayate drawled, coughing lightly.

"Congratulations, all of you!" Ibiki yelled happily to all of the shinobi in the center. He had a matching grin on his face but his was more…ecstatic.

_So, five of these kids are from the Leaf, three from the Sand, and one from the Sound. We have one winner too many. _Hiruzen noticed as he checked through each of them, the siblings catching his eye. _Those three from the Sand, are deadly even for just young shinobi especially the youngest boy. _

"Uh, Hokage-sama, can you start to explain it?" Hayate asked Hiruzen.

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><p>Iruka stared outside of the academy window with a blank expression. Konohamaru took notice of this state his teacher was in and looked over at his classmate. With his hand hiding his mouth, he started to whisper, "Hey, Iruka-sensei is becoming such an airhead. Because of this, we can get out of class early!"<p>

The teacher snapped his head at the young boy. "Trying to cut class, Konohamaru? I don't care if your grandfather is the Hokage, you still need to learn!"

"You've got it wrong! I was talking about going to the bathroom!" Konohamaru defended. "You weren't paying attention; I was going piss my pants waiting for you!"

Iruka wasn't buying it at all. He shook his head and turned back to the chalkboard. Without turning his head, he started to write out the different hand seals needed to perform a basic genjutsu. "Oh, Konohamaru, you have detention today."

"What?" the boy screamed. "But I didn't do anything! It was Shōtarō's fault! He was the one plotting to ditch!"

Shōtarō looked shocked as he glared at Konohamaru with flames burning in his eyes. "You bastard! I didn't do anything, Iruka-sensei! It was all Konohamaru-kun!"

"It was not!" he yelled back.

"Konohamaru, unless you want a week of detention, be quiet and pay attention," Iruka sighed. "And you just confessed to have been talking about getting out of class early."

"Damn it," Konohamaru grumbled, burying his head in his arms.

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><p>"Jiraiya-sama, the preliminaries have ended and the finals are going to start," Kabuto said, looking at the Hokage's office. Jiraiya's back was to a pillar, looking at it with his apprentice.<p>

"When other countries have started to raise their forces, Konoha becomes peaceful," Jiraiya noted. "I would take the head of the Hokage, but…"

"It seems you're hesitant to act on that," Kabuto said. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," he answered. "I just want to savor the moments until all of the hidden villages began an intense war with each other. The Hidden Sound included."

Kabuto looked at his teacher, pushing up his glasses, which were falling. "You are the trigger to start it, Jiraiya-sama. And Naruto-kun is the bullet for the war."

"Man, your intuitiveness scares me, Kabuto. You are one excellent student."

"Not really, you overestimate me. I didn't know about Zaku, Kin, and Dosu. Because of that, I acted recklessly and took on their attacks. And I've yet to gain your full trust."

"I didn't tell you about those three because I didn't think it was worth it. Powerful kids, but they're just not fit to become what I fully need from students," Jiraiya said, closing his eyes. "I didn't think it was necessary to do so. That is some proof of my trust of you. I need for you to take care of Naruto-kun for me, can you do that?

"That seal I had given him was sealed up by Kakashi. But even with that, it will shatter when Naruto-kun's darkness takes over. And I need you to get him here, by taking him away." Jiraiya kept a smile on his face, not a smug look, but a warm one.

"Yes, Jiraiya-sama." Kabuto said, walking away.

"But if you want to stop my plans, kill Uzumaki Naruto now," Jiraiya spoke up, making Kabuto turn in surprise. "Just kidding."

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><p>"In the main matches, you battles will be seen and witnessed by everybody. Your prowess that you display will represent the overall power of you village and country. Each of you should showcase all of your powers without any setbacks," Hiruzen told them. "To train up for them, and to recover, the finals shall be held one month from now."<p>

"What will the break be for?" Sasuke questioned, keeping his scowl. "Why can't we do them here?"

"Settle down, boy," the Hokage said. "The break will be for preparations."

"What kind?" Neji asked.

"Not only will we be contacting the other Kage and lords, it will also be a time to train for you. I already said that before. It will be a time to learn about each of your enemies. During that time, you will calculate strategies for winning. You have to train for battling the unknown in real combat with enemy shinobi.

"Take that time to improve and advance all of your skills. In addition to that, you will also need to rest your body. Do you understand?"

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><p>Naruto lay on a hospital bed, a respirator attached to him. Parallel to his bed, another one was present, holding Kakashi. Kabuto walked through the door, visible to all of the ANBU stationed there. One of them had a bird mask, grasping the small blade on his back. "Who are you? Stop right there!"<p>

"I think you'll be the one who's stopping," Kabuto said under his breath, forming quick hand seals. After he formed all seals needed, he turned his palms toward the ANBU, chakra made water blasting from them. **Suiton: Hou.**

The water pressure blasted the ANBU to the wall with quick speed, the wall breaking behind him. As the force got stronger, he broke through the wall, being shot through the air to skid on the nearby roof. The ANBU's teammates looked at Kabuto drawing their swords.

The one wearing a monkey mask lunged at Kabuto, ready to impale him to get revenge for his teammate. As he came closer to Kabuto, he sped up, going to hit him with double the force. But as soon as he came near Kabuto, he felt a hand on his stomach with a burning sensation.

Kabuto's left palm was covered in a bright flame, burning through the ANBU's torso armor and burning his skin. With little effort, he launched him into the ceiling, knocking him out. His sword dropped to the ground, the blade piercing the floor.

Kabuto walked over to the last remaining ANBU, grabbing the handle of the fallen blade. He heard the ANBU that hit the ceiling fall with a thud. The ANBU he faced had a lion mask, and the stance he was in made Kabuto automatically assume that it was no threat.

_I shouldn't kill any of them. Make it clean without any bloodshed so I won't leave that much of a trace. _The lion-masked ANBU backed up against a wall, holding the sword loosely. He was clearly panicking at this point. "**Raiton: Senkō**!"

The ANBU put his fingertips in Kabuto's way, quickly flicking his wrist to create lightning from them. It scorched the ground, making a burn mark where Kabuto stood. The boy jumped back, the sword in his hand. He pushed up his glasses, already analyzing his enemy.

_So he uses lightning as his nature transformation. He might have more, so I might have to be more cautious. He doesn't seem to be one to be able to defeat somebody. Most likely a rookie just learning the ropes of being in ANBU. Intimidated by me and put down by his teammates. _

Kabuto got back on his feet, standing up straight. He pulled back his sword, clashing with the ANBU. The friction of the blades created sparks. He flicked his eyes to Naruto, who he couldn't have woken up or injured. In a quick motion, he held the sword backhand.

He started to push up the blade of the ANBU, knocking it out of his hands. Kabuto turned the blunt side of the sword to his the area where the shoulder and neck met on the ANBU. He stayed on the wall, sliding down. The ANBU's head was tilted, signaling he wasn't conscious.

Kabuto held the blade, walking over to Naruto. "Sometimes being outstanding is too much. We were both fortunate enough to be found by Jiraiya-sama. Your fate was chosen from the very beginning, when Jiraiya-same got closer to your parents. You want to know who they are, don't you Naruto-kun? He can provide you with those answers clear as day. He was there; he met them and interacted with them."

He looked down at Naruto, not even needing an answer to the questions he asked. He clenched the blade, wanting to kill him then and there. He held it back, choosing to keep Naruto alive, for the sake of Jiraiya's plans.

He heard footsteps echoing in the hallways. Without caring, he grabbed the tube that connected the mask on Naruto and the respirator. He gripped it lightly, almost not even touching it. He was a medic-nin, his actions when it came to this, were careful.

Before he could rip the mask off and take Naruto, he felt somebody grab his wrist. When he turned his eyes, he saw Anko, glaring at him as she threw his hand away from Naruto. Kabuto was pushed back to the end of Naruto's bed, only chuckling lightly.

"You really want to fight me?" He wondered, looking at her.

"You bet your ass I will," Anko answered, raising her fists.

"I don't like to fight people who don't stand a chance," he sighed.

"Shut up! You're just another spoiled brat who is being manipulated by Jiraiya!" Anko shouted at Kabuto.

"What makes you any different?" He started to walk around the hospital room, just staring straight ahead.

He held the sword to point at Anko, a smug grin on his face. She was getting tired of waiting as he took his sweet time walking around the whole room, only to slow down even more around the front door. She rushed toward him, a kunai in her right hand.

As she clashed blades with the boy, she, out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the ANBU stationed to Naruto's room on the roof, just getting up from a daze. She could recognize the mask on him, since she had met him before. _Kaoru! _

Kaoru was sitting up on the rooftop, scratching the back of his head. He looked into the room to see Anko and Kabuto clashing. He grabbed his blade, rushing over to her aid. He jumped through the hole in the wall, pulling his blade over his head. "Anko-san, watch out!"

She pulled back just in the nick of time for Kaoru to collide with Kabuto. Kabuto glared at Kaoru, seeing the bird mask from before. Anko twisted around the two men, getting behind his back. She slammed her elbow on Kabuto's back, making him freeze.

Kaoru dropped to his feet, pulling his sword back and slamming the blunt side on Kabuto's cheek. As the boy fell, unconscious, Anko checked Naruto. "Kaoru-san, check on your teammates."

She looked at the blond boy as she heard the man behind her yell as she turned. A shuriken grazed her cheek as the rest shattered the window. One of the ANBU leaped over Naruto's bed, jumping out of the window.

Anko and Kaoru ran over to the window pane, seeing the ANBU face them as he fell. He grabbed his mask and started to remove it, revealing Kabuto. She slammed her fist on the pane, scowling. "Damn it, he got away!"

* * *

><p>"Now, before any of you go anywhere, take one of the papers from the box that Hayate has," Hiruzen said.<p>

"Let's go, I've got to train," Sasuke complained, watching Dosu pull up his sleeve to grab one of the papers.

As everybody pulled one of the papers, Ibiki took out his clipboard and a pen. When Sasuke got his, it read the number 1. Ibiki looked at his paper, which had the numbers and a blank space for the names.

"Now, starting from the left, tell me your numbers!" He demanded.

After they told him their numbers, he looked over the paper again.

**1 – Uchiha Sasuke**

**2 – Hyūga Neji**

**3 – Gaara**

**4- **

**5 – Kankurō**

**6 – Kinuta Dosu**

**7 – Aburame Shino**

**8 – Temari**

**9 – Nara Shikamaru**

"That would mean Uzumaki Naruto is number 4," he noted, filling his name out on the line for number four.

"Now, we shall show you matches for the finals!" Hiruzen called, before Ibiki chuckled nervously. He turned to the man. "What's wrong?"

"Well, I forgot to do that. Just a moment, Hokage-sama," Ibiki said, rewriting the names for the matchup side. "There we go!"

"Show them," the Hokage coughed.

He revealed to them the fights.

**Uchiha Sasuke vs. Hyūga Neji**

**Gaara vs. Uzumaki Naruto**

**Kankurō vs. Aburame Shino**

**Kankurō vs. Kinuta Dosu**

**Temari vs. Nara Shikamaru**

_Two people? I can handle that, especially since these guys from other villages are weak. _Kankurō looked at his two matches.

_I'm lucky I didn't get Gaara. I only got some lazy ass kid from here. _Temari sighed in relief.

_Fighting Sasuke? Perfect. _Neji looked at the Uchiha with a smug grin.

_Naruto? I think this will be somewhat entertaining to me. _Gaara looked at the paper.

"Questions?" Hiruzen wondered, looking at each of the kids.

Shikamaru raised his hand, immediately getting chosen by the Hokage. "If this is a tournament, that means there can only be one winner. Does that mean only one person becomes a Chūnin?"

"Not quite. Each battle will be determined by me, the Kazekage, and the lords of other countries. We will evaluate the person's abilities and see if they are able to become a Chūnin."

"So does that mean if somebody loses, they can still become a Chūnin, meaning everybody can pass?" Temari wondered.

"Yes, that's right," he yawned. "But that also means, nobody can pass, too! Do you understand now, Shikamaru-kun?"

He nodded, listening to the announcement by Hiruzen. "Now, all of you go and train! You have one month, you better make the most of it!"

"Sakura, where's Naruto?" Sasuke called to the pink haired girl.

"I saw him get taken to the hospital with Kakashi-sensei!" She answered, watching him walk away to go see them. She leaped off of the second floor. "Sasuke-kun, I'll go, too!"

He didn't say anything to her as he went out of the arena. Sasuke just had to see how they were; he wanted to see how much Naruto has grown over time to fight Gaara. _I wonder…can Kakashi change the finals matchups?_

* * *

><p>Translations:<p>

**Suiton: Hou - Water Release: Gun**

**_C-Rank, Mid to Long range. From ones own chakra or preexisting water, one will use only one hand to blast the water at a high velocity and pressure. Similar jutsu: Unknown | Users: Yakushi Kabuto _  
><strong>

**Raiton: Senkō - Lightning Release: Flash**

_**C-Rank, Short to Mid range. From one's fingertips, they will release electricity while flicking their wrist from right to left (alternatively, up to down). It will be able to burn somebody because of the power of it. Similar jutsu: Unknown | Users: Unnamed ANBU **_

**I made those two jutsu because I didn't want to always rely on canon to give me badass moves. Those are basic ones.**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So that was this chapter. I just made Kaoru up because I like to give people names. Whether or not he'll return is up to you, I think I'll put up a poll. I probably will I might like Kaoru as a supporting character, not a main one. That's the only way I can keep him. And if you read it carefully, Kankurō is the one fighting both Shino and Dosu. I think I'll showcase his abilities there in the two fights. How about that? I switched the numbers for that, moving Dosu and pushing the others back.

I don't know about you, but one of my favorite fights from Part I was Temari vs. Shikamaru. I just like how they both strategized and used their moves. I guess that fight made them my favorite characters. I've been reading Fullmetal Alchemist lately and Hitman Reborn. You should check them out. Especially Reborn, if you can skip or survive the Daily Life arc. FMA is pretty cool; I like the art style and the Equivalent Exchange thing.

I changed the title by adding this ':' and 'The Road Not Taken'. I know what you're thinking, "Just like that poem by Robert Frost." That's the inspiration for the other part of the title. It fits, right? Naruto's taken the road he didn't take in canon. It's just like the lines:

_I took the one less traveled by, _

_And that has made all the difference._

****Sorry guys, I've decided to end my time on this site, so until somebody wants to adopt this story, it will be here. When it gets adopted, you can check my profile for the new author. If you want this story, don't leave it in a review, PM and I'll give it to you, if I get more than one, I'll give you guys numbers and use a random number generator to pick one. ****


	19. Notice read this please

**Okay guys, I just need to tell you guys that this story is up for adoption. I'm putting this as a new chapter so that most of you guys can see this. Sorry if you got your hopes up for a new chapter to read. I just need to say that I'm not going to continue to write this. If you want this story, PM me so that I'll give it to you more privately. I'll send you the previous chapters over email and you can upload them so that the story can be complete all together. So if you want this, do the following in the PM:**

**Put the story name (Since I'm using this for another story)**

**Put your email address **

**Why you want it**

**What your idea for it is**

**And pairing (optional, you don't need to have a pairing, but this is just if you do)**

**Would you still follow the story if I chose somebody else?**

**Just remember: Don't do it in a review, just do it in a PM message, you can find the button right on my profile. The person who gets this story will be notified on the 1****st**** of October. So to keep this like a story, and not get reported for this non-chapter (story), I'll put something here, although it's not related to this story, it's a parody. (If nobody is chosen, I'm taking down the story as I will when somebody is chosen)**

"Hey Sakura," Naruto called, looking at the overview of the series so far.

"What?" She answered, walking up to him.

"How come the relationship Rin, Obito, and Kakashi have are exactly the same as the relationships our characters have?"

"Well, the creator of the show, Kishimoto-san, had a preppy girl best friend and a silent, popular guy for a guy best friend. He really liked the girl, but she went with the guy, so he relives it every episode of the show. That's why he doesn't have major female leads."

"So, he hates girls?"

"Nope, but his wife doesn't want him to keep including teams like that, so she doesn't really let him write about them," she said, before leaning in to whisper to him, "rumor has it, he would have done the same to the Sand Siblings."

Naruto's stomach dropped. "I'm gonna be sick."


End file.
